Ten years ago, there was a lot of discussion about whether video games promoted violence. Whether it was the rise in gangs or the Columbine incident, some started to blame games like Mortal Kombat for promoting violence among youth. Over time though, it seems that discussion has gone away, and those that take the “video games don’t promote violence” have won.
What about dating though? When it comes down to it, many TV shows and movies have single characters out there in the dating world. Much of the what is considered dating etiquette is featured on TV. For example, it is commonly insinuated on television that women should not sleep on the first date, but it is more common on the third or fourth date.
As sexuality has become more accepted, societal norms for dating behavior has changed. In the 1950’s, the third or fourth date rule was more like marriage or thirtieth date, so clearly that has changed. But, in general, do women nowadays sleep with men on the fourth date or so because they think that is appropriate, based on TV, or is TV merely taking its cute from society?
I think it’s a combination of both. When it comes to dating, people are often very insecure and want some sort of authority to tell them what the right thing is to do. This is different from video games. People’s lives in no way shape in form mirror Mortal Kombat, so guys aren’t exactly looking to this game to figure out how to do a finishing move on their arch nemesis. People’s lives are similar though to many characters on sitcoms, so they do look to TV shows to instill in them a sense of what is ‘normal’ in the dating world.
