Dating has been there since the ancient times and it comprised of social encounters with potential future partners. These included meetings and carrying out activities that help both partners familiarize with each other and gauge the prospects of future romantic relationships. Both the traditional and the recent adult online dating have the same intent. Dating in general offers the chance for both partners to find their compatibility levels both romantically and socially.
However, there are some differences in how this art of socializing has changed over time and certainly brought about drastic approaches between generations. For example, traditionally a potential partner had to be someone within your social circles like a friend, neighbor or a family friend but today you can date anyone you want despite the age, race or locality.
In traditional dating, the number of dates were few and were more local and these made it sure that it was known that the two are dating while in today's dating one can have as many dates as possible at any one time and they can be from far and wide.
Many times traditional dating always led to marriages while in the recent past a date does not necessarily spell any future prospects.
Traditionally young men and women relied on social gatherings such as church and other events to meet; adult dating today does not have such levels of patience since dating can be done online.
Adult dating has been turned to a fun activity that even the married couples can engage into while traditionally, dating was only for the singles and only for the purpose of marriage.
Men used to be the only ones after ladies, as women were supposed to maintain some levels of modesty. It was embarrassing for women to openly admit to being in need of a date in certain traditions. However, in today's adult dating both men and women alike can publicly declare to be looking for a date.
Due to religion and societal morals, during dating sex was out of the equation and men and women were supposed only to have sex after marriage. Adult dating is more open to premarital affairs as a way of finding sexual compatibility between partners.
Dating being an explorative stage in any relationship, traditionally it always had a time frame and it was mostly for the young people as the older generations would be in their marriages. In today's dating, it can take years and still end without leading to marriage. Also, intergenerational dating is more rampant and a norm in many communities in the world.
The major reason for the differences is changing times, humans are still evolving and finding ways to make life more enjoyable. The internet, for example, has brought with it a lot of changes ranging from fast communication, exposure and sharing of information. The old tradition practices are fading off and are being replaced by newer and speedy ways of doing things. People are embracing and forming new traditions and soon even what we think is new will be old.