Woo: The New Romance

23 February 2011Rachel M

Woo. No, I am not riding a roller coaster or falling off a horse. For now, woo specifically refers to the ever present and all consuming art of youthful love. Whether its flowers, or flirty texts to the boy who sits in front of you with the great hair, wooing is that intangible practice that seems to make the world go round for teenagers.

In the normal adult world, ergo outside the Brentwood bubble, some might say that if you like someone, you should ask them out to dinner, or strike up casual conversation about a mutual interest. For teenagers, this concept of being transparent with feelings is met with snide laughter and the incredulous "Are you kidding me?!". In the world of Facebook, gossip, and texting more than talking, wooing has undergone a massive reconfiguration in recent years.

The subtleties of wooing that take place among the Brentwood student body would certainly fly over the heads of most parents and teachers. For adolescents, the playing field is the virtual world. This is where we gauge the scenario, and can feel safe putting ourselves out there to others, because rejection is only in size twelve font. Computers and cell phones have become the new bouquet of roses, the electronic serenade. Instead of asking someone to the school dance, we text "may b ill c u there?" Sadly, the quickening heartbeats that accompanied approaching our crush have morphed into trembling fingers hovering over the send button on our cell.

With the software update to romance, the blushing privacy and innocence has been replaced by public domain. Forums of teenage girls gather around every Skype conversation, to assess the type-tone of their friend’s love interest. No text message is sent without the scrutiny of at least four other individuals who will briefly wear the hat of relationship expert to instill confidence that their guidance is correct. Every "LOL" or "What’s up?" is not taken at face value, but rather for its undercurrent of interest, or sometimes dismissal. Text and subtext.

Another notable change in wooing is growing immediacy and availability. Before cell phones or email, people had to actually wait to see or talk to each other. Chance encounters made hearts skip a beat, and impromptu conversations embodied the innocent, candid quality of young love. Nowadays, we are all so electronically in touch with one another, there is no mystery. No heart wrenching waiting to finally run into that special someone in the halls. You can simply text them "hey, meet me on the plaza in five" and in an instant you are there. That longing feeling simply evaporates in the face of immediate communication.

With the ever increasing ways to interact with one another through technological portals, we lose something. Technology has done so much for modern society, but it has robbed this generation of a precious excitement. Social networking sites and cell phones speed up every aspect of communication, which has proven to be extremely convenient at times, but it sadly seems to have cheapened the art of wooing.

So next time you find yourself trying to perfectly word a text message to your significant other, hit the delete button, and wait. It might be worth it. What would Romeo and Juliet do?

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