How has dating changed?

I agree with Bridgeit...happy days. 9 August 1969, I went to the local phonebox at least ten times to ring my boyfriend's house, as he was arriving back from the Isle of Wight festival where he had gone with friends. We were due to meet up on his return. I eventually spoke to him...he dumped me! he had found some new at the festival...I was broken hearted went home and cried for 3 days! Oh the pain of it...I can still remember it as if it was yesterday! If that happened today he could have just done it by text and saved me all the legwork!

Thankfully, I was never under any pressure to marry. I didn't have any boyfriends until I was 18 because I was at boarding school. I then went to university 200 miles from home and what happened there was no one's business but my own. After university I got a job and moved out.

So my parents knew nothing about my love life until I went home with DH and told them we were engaged.

The difference I notice now is how much teens and twenties go round in large mixed sex groups and are much more tactile with each other and a boy and girl can get on well together without everyone making comments. When we were in groups they were much more likely to be single sex and being seen with a male or making a pleasant comment always led to assumptions that you were keen on the man involved. I once made the mistake of commenting that an acquaintance had a nice smile, which he did, and was pursued by assumptions for months. I was not remotely interested in him.

Yes Morgana I saw the program Naked Attraction by accident. Definitely cringeworthy. Would anyone really choose a date by comparing their private parts. Yuk

I'd left home when I met my husband and we moved in together but I couldn't tell my parents. It wasn't the done thing back in the 70s.

The courting and waiting at the end of the date to see if you got a kiss.

I feel sorry for teenagers today. Perhaps I am old fashioned but I think it's better you get to know each other first before having sex. Sex should be with love in my book. No wonder there are so many teenagers with anxiety/depression - they feel they have to have sex otherwise they are called frigid.
As for the goings on in Coronation street - no wonder there is so much unhappiness!

Taking them home for a meal after a few dates seemed to be the norm although was often very embarrassing with younger siblings around. When I met DH my parents loved him as he was and still is very good at DIY - my dad was willing but not very able! As part of his student course DH went abroad for six months. In those days of course there was no internet, Skype or mobile phones and I never spoke to him while he was away. Missed him but just accepted it and got on with my own studies.

Boyfriends used to buy my mum chocolates and bring me flowers and mum often cooked them dinner. My ex bought my wedding dress from Browns in Chester. I hadn't 'succumbed' with previous boyfriends so my ex was my first and I always went for lads/men who had interesting or edgy jobs and could hold a decent conversation.

Sorry didn't answer the original question! Met D.H. after I had left home. We lived together before we married. It was just becoming more acceptable in those days - although not with parents!! My D.H.'s grandma wrote to him and said I was a whore for living with him. They didn't mince their words then!

I wasn't allowed to date when dad was alive. Sadly, he dropped dead when I was 17 (atherosclerosis) and then I went into nursing, living above the hospital ...and clubbing
Met ex through the Guardian ads but had to tell my then fiancé who was a colour Sgt in the Grenadier Guards and serving in Ireland.
So, no formalities with my mum who was glad not to have to answer the door to many different faces when I was home. Married for 31 years then I decided to be single again.

I think it is a shame that it all seems to hinge so much on physical appearance nowadays. We seem to have become obsessed with how people look/dress etc. Have you seen that strange TV programme where they choose who they want to date by looking at naked contestants?

Yes things are different these days. Here in Sweden when they have sex education in School at an early age, they give out condoms to everyone in the class, maybe a good idea in some ways, maybe an encouragement in otherways, thats how it is these days.Who said romance isnt dead!

I was talking about this the other day with several people in their mid 70s and they remembered that the only way to leave the family home was to get married, especially for a girl. Most were married at 18-20.

Judging by what I read on Mumsnet the biggest change seems to be that nowadays sleeping around seems to be the norm. In my day nice girls didn't, at least until they were in a relationship which was expected to lead to marriage.
I hated having to be asked on a date. I was rather forward and would suggest interesting things to do in the hope that it would result in an invitation.

cut off mid moan
I was going to say, and I will say, that I can't stand that people today involve their children with different partners far too soon. Some people, obviously.

I'm going to be an old moaner now.
I can't stand u

My Dad used to say that there's no mystery or romance nowadays. OTOH there's less ignorance which can only be a good thing.
I'm glad I'm not young anymore - not sure I'd cope. A bad thing is all the porn that is readily available now which gives young people entirely the wrong idea about what is 'normal.' In many ways I'll bet the same old problem exists, "Shall I or shan't I?"
My generation were fooled into putting the cart before the horse - you know what I mean!

I am glad for the young that the pressure of the expected engagement after going out with a young man for a certain length of time seems to have disappeared.

My generation broke off a number of promising friendships too soon when mothers or aunties starting hinting about the contents of our "bottom drawers" or asking directly whether we were still going out with N?

However, as a teacher I saw a lot of teenagers being pushed into physical relationships by peer pressure before they really were ready themselves, and a lot of them confusing good old physical desire = sex with love.

So I am sure it still is not easy being young, the pressures and social controls have just changed.

I can remember sitting by the mailbox waiting for a letter from my boyfriend who was away at school or waiting for the phone to ring. It was far more fun and more natural than todays methods. I miss the anticipation, the hunt, the heart fluttering moments.
Now days it's all online it's almost like people would not even consider flirting with each other in the real world. And the reality is that there are very few truly lasting relationships born online.
Dear St. Valentine please take away all the dating sites and bring back instinctual natural love.

I only recently realised that young people now refer to each other as boyfriend/ girlfriend only after they start sleeping together.
Of course it's also acceptable to sleep together without being in a 'going-out' relationship!

Everything seems so rushed these days - my daughter says I am old fashioned but makes me laugh when she says my granddaughters will not be allowed boyfriends until they are in their 30's There is a lot of peer pressure both for boys and girls to be in a relationship before senior school - so good luck to her with that one!

I think a little of the romance has gone out of dating these days. With dating Apps. (which seem to be based solely on appearance,) a quick swipe to left or right and a choice is made. I know a date has still to be arranged ,after that, but it seems quite clinical and impersonal.
I met my husband at school and waited a month for him to pluck up the courage to ask me out!

Anniebach. Didn't have that problem as I lived next door to who was to be my husband. Met my future ML before DH as they had moved next door to us while he was serving abroad in the military. I already had a boyfriend at the time who soon became history.

In the fifties nice girls didn’t kiss on the first date now people have sex without dating. And that awful, girls don’t phone boys rule.

‘Getting his feet under the table’ was a landmark in the relationship, wasn’t it.
Noticed by nosey neighbours and giving rise to speculation that an engagement ring might soon be sported.
I remember the first time we met DSiL. DD brought him home for a meal. For some reason instead of ringing the front door bell, DD took him to the back door to which she had a key, and let them in via the utility room where a jolly assortment of my bras and knickers were hanging up to dry

Trust me, it's still a PITA. Waiting for the email is just as bad as waiting for the call - maybe more so, because it might come in at any time!