From love letters to likes: has technology stolen our romance?

In the age of situationships, and one night stands, is true love really a thing?

Growing up I never thought my experiences with relationships would play out the way they have. As a little girl I dreamed of love, I would read romance novels and watch rom-coms every night, patiently waiting for the day the love of my life would sweep me off my feet. I’ve unfortunately realised that it is uncommon for young people nowadays to find themselves in a relationship, but why is that? Why are situationships the new craze? Why do we feel the most loved by a one night stand, when we know it's only driven by lust? I don't know anyone who's found a relationship out of being approached by someone at a bar or in any romantic situation other than being friends of a friend with someone. So why have we all lost the courage to approach someone we find attractive? Or is love just not a desire anymore?

My relationship experiences, well situationships, and one night stands during my first year of university unknowingly fucked up my ability to know what love is. I often questioned myself, am I in love? Or am I just infatuated with the attention I’ve been desiring all my life?

Now, two years later, I am lucky enough to have found a guy who loves me for me, or at least thinks he does. This is my paranoia talking but sometimes I think am I really in love? And does he really love me? Or have we both just been dreaming of the idea of love our entire lives?

Obviously I love him but I often overthink how someone can truly love me when all the guys in my past who I thought were interested in me just used me for one thing.

It truly is hard to find love in modern life, harder than ever before, especially with dating apps solely being used to find a one night stand, with a mere 5% genuinely looking for love. But, is this what trying to find love is going to be like forever? Will we ever find our soulmates? I guess we’ll find out eventually.