There's a grain of truth to some stereotypes, which is part of the reason they so annoyingly persist. Men are just after one thing, and women are more interested in communicating. Yeah, I get it, and I can see that. But in my experience, dating apps have really leveled the field, making everyone into a desperate phony. Too many people are so invested in curating their social media presence that they seem to have lost touch with the reality of who they are. When I meet people in person, they seem to have forgotten how to have real-time conversations, how to listen, how to be present. It's almost as though dating has become just another technology, with its own codes, divorced from the flesh and from the human. Social media has made us all into Narcissus, where we are in love with our own image. So in love with ourselves, in fact, that we´ve forgotten how to just be with other people, to tell the truth, even act on it. Deception has become mistaken for flirtation and mystery, and too many men and women today think dishonesty is somehow essential to seduction. 
 
It really sucks. Especially for a fortysomething bi woman like me.
 
3293 words (FF)
 
Cover art by Anthony Sturmas
www.asturmas.com