Has social media led to the downfall of romantic gestures? Instead of sending flowers we send DM’s and instead of writing someone a heartfelt note, we comment fire emojis under the selfie we like the look of … doesn’t scream romance to me!

Where can we expect our meet cute to happen if we’re all so scared of approaching people in real life?

Meet Cute: a scene in which the two people who will form a future romantic couple meet for the first time.

‘Playing’ Tinder is our latest boredom buster. One of the many dating apps we forget about until we realise we haven’t had any easily accessible attention for a while. We post half naked pictures onto our Instagram feeds because we revel in the fleeting appreciation we get from random strangers. Most of us leave our profiles on public because we enjoy being seen by others. But is social media really allowing us to be ‘seen’?

Ask your parents how they met, it’s highly unlikely they will say through online dating. Go back 20 or 30 years and people were meeting in pubs, or being hooked up via their group of friends. They weren’t swiping right, left or every direction in between while sat on the toilet hoping to find the love of their life and ultimately the person they wanted to create a family with. They were out there meeting people, speaking face to face, doing the most normal thing imaginable that we consider kind of weird now … they were interacting!

I want someone to write me letters telling me how much I mean to them, I want them to be stood in front of me telling me how beautiful I am. I don’t want them to comment emojis under my social media posts to show that they have an appreciation for me. I want them to show me off …. but not on social media. Take me to meet your friends and family face to face, so I can see the expression on your face as you introduce us. I don’t really care about the opinions of millions of people I don’t know, I don’t need them to all ‘approve’ of us.

Take me for lazy Sunday strolls, instead of laying next to me having a lazy Sunday ‘scroll’ through all of your social media platforms. Is romance too much to expect nowadays? Is it weird holding on to the hope of meeting Prince Charming at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve?

Imagine having a meet cute story like that … one where you saw each other from across the bar and it was love at first sight, that’s the kind of story people are jealous of. I’ve never seen a fairytale using the opening line of ‘once upon a swipe’ …  and if I did, I probably wouldn’t read on! Lets be honest, we all know how a Tinder date ends and unless having a drunk quickie with your clothes on is romantic to you, I don’t think you’d read on expecting a happily ever after either … I mean, I guess it’s kind of a happy ending in it’s own way, just not the type I’m after for here!

So for all of us hopeless romantics still hoping to find their forever romance the old fashioned way, I say keep trying. The offline world is far prettier than the online one anyway.