Across the centuries the moral systems from medival chivalry to Bruce Springsteen love anthems have worked the same basic way. They take immediate selfish interests and enmesh them within transcendent, spiritual meanings. Love becomes a holy cause, an act of self-sacrifice and selfless commitment. But texting and the utilitarian mind-set are naturally corrosive toward poetry and imagination. A coat of ironic detachment is required for anyone who hopes to withstand the brutal feedback of the marketplace. In today's world, the choice of a Prius can be a more sanctified act than the choice of an erotic partner. This does not mean that young people today are worse or shallower than young people in the past. It does mean they get less help. People once lived within a pattern of being, which educated the emotions, guided the temporary toward the permanent and linked everyday urges to higher things. The accumulated wisdom of the community steered couples as they tried to earn each other's commitment. Today there are fewer norms that guide that way. Today's technology seems to threaten the sort of recurring and stable reciprocity that is the building block of trust. David Brooks
About This Quote

I think that in our world today, the idea of how to love is changing. The notion of romantic love has become much more complicated than it used to be. People seem to have gotten rid of the idea that true love is all about romance and being in a relationship for a long period of time. They have gotten rid of the idea of giving up all of their time and effort just to be with someone that they may or may not ever see again.

They have gotten rid of the idea that loving someone is a feeling that never goes away. The way that people are choosing to express their love today is so much more complicated. It seems like the only time that the people are talking about love is when they are arguing about it.

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