One thing I love to do is think about the future. What will technology be like? Will we all be flying on the moon like the
“Jetsons”? What does it hold for
love? How will race and gender play a
role? How about our sexual
orientation? What about peace in our
world? These are all valid questions and
I thought it would be fun to explore some of the answers to these questions
based on where I believe society is going at this present time.
Here are a few of the areas I decided to explore with
regards to the future:
I.
Technology
I was watching a video by The School of Life called
“Emotional Technology” and it really peeked my interest in the future. If you haven’t checked out their videos,
please do so as you will definitely learn something new. But one of the things this video talked about
was how society was changing in terms of the technology. What really amazed me was when they said that
online dating would be better in terms of picking a spouse. Technology will change because it would get
straight to the heart of what your needs and expectations are in terms of a
partner. Thereby, helping you find the
right person based on this criteria.
Currently, online dating serves as a means to get a “date” not in terms
of getting a “spouse” even though sites like eharmony.com and match.com
represent themselves as such.
II.
Love
and Dating
There has been a huge turnover rate with dating in terms of
the number of people getting married and subsequently getting divorced or
widowed and the number of people who have never been married. Throughout our history, I don’t think we’ve
ever seen the number of people who are currently single and looking for a mate
which has changed the entire paradigm for dating. In other words, a 20-something year old
person could be looking for a mate just like someone who is in their mid-40’s. This creates a challenge for those looking
for love. If you’re in your 40’s, you’re
certainly not going to be searching for someone in the same pool of singles as
you did in your 20’s. This is one of the
reasons I believe that online dating will change as the demand for finding the
right spouse will be greater.
The other factor involved with dating is our own perceptions
of it. Most of us are living out our parent’s
beliefs and philosophies on love and relationships even though much has changed
in terms of relationships since our parent’s generation. We’re holding on to the old guard of how we
view relationships in terms of race, ethnicity, gender roles, sexual
orientation, etc., rather than embracing where society is and where it is going
in order to find the person that effectively meets our needs.
More specifically, I think there will come a day when
interracial dating will not be viewed as distinctive but rather will be
commonplace among most singles. Race
will play a role but only be seen in a way of understanding our history and how
that could make the bond formed in a relationship stronger because of it. And this is already happening among many
couples.
Even age differences will be seen as merely a chance to
understand a different generation. We’ll
be looking at the person not by their age but rather as whether we feel happy
with the person. Regardless of whether
the person is 10 or 20 years our junior or senior, this will be a minor factor
among many others with regards to choosing this person. Character, values, lifestyles and goals will
be the deciding factors for its compatibility.
III.
Gender Roles
We’ve already seen stay at home dads raise their children
while mom goes to work so we know this trend is only going to increase in the
future. The phrase “bringing home the
bacon” will apply to both mom and dad as both will be out trying to make a
living and bringing home a paycheck. But
there will also be much less of a conflict in this area as couples will see
each other in a positive light working together in a partnership. And there will be more equality in the
relationship rather than today’s view of one partner being more superior to the
other. In other words, they’ll both be
at the head of the table.
IV.
Reproduction
Despite many people’s thoughts on a woman’s reproductive
rights, I believe that women will be able to produce children well into their
later 40’s. This is a heated battle, by
the way. Some women believe that you
need to be in your 20’s to have a child because you have more eggs at this time
to produce the child and you need more energy just to keep up with the child. Opponents say that when a woman is older, she
may not have as many eggs to produce the child but is far more capable of
providing the financial resources to raise a child because she would now be
stable in her career as opposed to the instability found in a woman’s 20’s.
But technology will change how we view this challenge. Fertility treatments are becoming more and
more effective in helping a woman produce a child. I have seen far more 40 year old women now producing
kids than I have in the previous generations.
And I think we’re going to need this technology because having children
is expensive and a 20 year old woman nowadays must work many hours just to keep
food on the table for herself even without having a child. Therefore, I believe many young women will
choose to delay having children even longer causing more of a demand for
fertility treatments forcing manufacturers of this technology to be more
effective in their results.
V.
Sexual
Orientation
Well for those of us who have grown up in religious
households, this area is challenging to say the least. We’ve grown up with the notion that only a
man and a woman can love each other.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, that theory is changing before our very
eyes. Today, in 2016, we have Caitlyn
Jenner, for example, a transsexual who is experiencing life as a woman having
been born as a man. So how’s that for
throwing the “old guard” out the window?
What do our religious leaders think about this? Listen, whether you agree with this or not,
it’s already happening. And I believe, you
will have more and more people identifying with being gay or lesbian or perhaps
even bi or trans-sexual. We are living
in a world where people are changing their beliefs in search of their true
selves and that is perhaps a good thing for our society in general, regardless
of our own personal belief systems.
VI.
Peace
I believe we are starting to discover our own true
identities, finding our own meaning in this life and finally achieving the
happiness we’ve been searching for our whole lives. To me, that signals the peace we are starting
to have within ourselves. As the old
saying goes, “as within, so below”. When
we start to feel a sense of peace inside of ourselves, this will translate to
our external perception of society as well.
Currently, we live in a time where we don’t know ourselves and we’re
projecting this on to our outside world resulting in chaos and conflict. I truly believe once we have a greater
understanding of ourselves, our partners and partnerships, then we will achieve
eternal peace.
So there you have it!
My view of how I see our world in the future with regards to love and relationships. We are experiencing a true awakening in our
society. Our perceptions and beliefs are
changing. Technology is helping to
expedite this process. But first, we
have to go through the fire in our own lives to get to the other side. It’s like the phoenix rising where we have to
go through the fire but we come out of it refreshed and renewed. That’s each of us living in this world
today. Our awakening process is
now. And we should either try to grow
with it or we may be left behind. Either
way, society is changing and that’s a good thing.
Thanks for reading!
For any comments, questions or more insight on this article,
please contact us at moniqueboyd@liveloveaspire.com. You may also contact us for professional
life/relationship coaching services as well.
