Dating: The 60’s VS Now

Tyler Woolen

More stories from Tyler Woolen

( Photo Credit via Wiki Commons )

( Photo Credit via Wiki Commons )

Dating has changed its ways almost every generation. There was a time when a proper young man and woman could not speak to each other unless they had been formally introduced. Now, that seems like crazy talk. There was no such thing as social media back then so how did they talk to each other and communicate? They would tell each other the times that one would pick them up. “I’ll pick you up at 8,” they would say and instead of being late like plenty of people now, they were right on time. Meeting on time was expected back then.

There were often strict guidelines of do’s and don’ts when it came to meeting their perfect match. For a start, dating was a group affair and if they wanted to get to know a member of the opposite sex they got together with a group of their friends and a group of the other persons friends. They would start to mingle that way. They met their dates at school, at work, at the drive-in or the bowling alley, not quite on the internet like people do now.

Now, people still meet others in those certain ways but since social media has happened, there have been more ways to find dates. Many of the dating behaviors in the 60’s were considered good etiquette. If there was a good girl, the parents would expect their date to be a polite young man who sought permission to ask them out in their teens. There was no ‘dating’ at 13 years old like there has said to be now.

A boy should open the door for his date and he was also expected to pay for movie tickets, dinner or any refreshments. Women were to refrain from kissing the boy on the first date, regardless of how much they liked him. And heaven forbid a girl should appear intelligent in front of her date, which made things tricky for those with the smarts.