Car rides over caviar

Perhaps, it is time to write an obituary for the traditional dinner date

- SUMITRA NAIR

Modern dating is hard. Earlier, you brought her chocolates and roses, opened the car door for her and, when she wanted to take it to the next level, invited you home for ‘coffee’. Well, the rules have changed. Today, in the age of ‘Netflix and chill’, relationships are a maze of complex terminology and the dating etiquette needs a manual to decipher. Take the term ‘situationship’. Do you know what it is? Well, neither do we. Not quite, anyway. Enter Dr Antonio Borrello, an American psychologist, relationship coach and YouTuber. In one of his YouTube videos, he explains what it is and describes the seven signs that you are in one.

“I guess you could call it a pseudo relationship,” he says. “It is somewhere in the middle—between friends-with-benefits and a committed relationship. You start seeing a person, you go on dates and you start doing things regularly. There’s definitely a chemistry that leads to physical intimacy and sex. But there is no talk of commitment, relationship, exclusivity or future goals.... The chances are, if you have dated recently, you have been in this place and you know exactly what I am talking about.”

Tinder would agree. According to its 2022 ‘Year in Swipe’ report, young singles say that situationship is a valid relationship status. “Tinder saw a 49 per cent increase in members adding the new relationship intention to their profiles and over one in 10 surveyed young singles said they prefer situationships as a way to develop a relationship with less pressure,” states the report.