Are the 20's experiencing dating fatigue?

Apparently, by the time they reach their early 20s, most youngsters would pick a game of chess or bowling over candle light dinner. Whether online or offline, they are just too bored of the whole dating thing, Psychologists say. This is quite unimaginable because this is when most people are expected to be in their dating prime - this is when most people ideally are expected to find love. So if dating fatigue checks in now, that means chances of finding love at this prime age when they are all ripe and blossomed reduce.

If this is true, what happens when they get to their 30s, or 40s for that matter? Is it the butterflies that's making it boring? What could be causing this dating exhaustion at an age when they should be actively dating?

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According to The New Age, one of the reasons could be because they start dating too early: as early as 12 and 13 years of age. This is because of the popularity contests often pegged on whether one has a boyfriend or girlfriend. Much as most people are under the assumption that starting early polishes their dating skills, in reality, it doesn’t. By they time they are in their 20s, they end up experiencing a dating burnout instead; making them prefer chess over some candle-light dinner.

The other reason is work. Because their careers take off as early as 21, they are under so much pressure to build their careers (working long hours) leaving little or no time for dating. Most would rather just hangout with their friends when they free up some time, as opposed to dressing up and doing dinner. And for those who are already dating, they end up having their dates in a group setting - taking their date to bowl or hangout with their pals as opposed to a one-on-one kinda thing.

Online addiction seems to have been cited as the other possible reason. Social networking sites have got most online obsessions going overboard. Because they are now relying on the internet to find love, when it doesn’t come easily, the whole process ends up being tiring and frustrating. The thing is: Some think finding love online is so automated that all one has to do is write a profile, upload a photo and magic happens. Even with online dating, they just don't even want to put time or effort into it. I guess this why most of them end up pulling down their profiles after a few months of being on a site because of the unrealistically high expectations they have about finding love online.

The other reason could be the fact that at this age, most of the youngsters just want quick fixes and easy relationships so much so that keeping a relationship going for long becomes an issue – the mentality is: If the present relationship isn’t working, why try and fix it when you can easily move on to the next one? And we all know how hard it is to find someone compatible.

The search for "The One" can also become frustrating and disappointing because most youngsters have the fairy tale image of "the one" - they expect perfection. To be honest, this is the real world and fairy tales are fairy tales. So when the search for the perfect mate becomes elusive, they end up giving up on dating much too early.

Do you believe this fatigue is really there? What does that say about the future of our relationships?

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