FUSE TV - Lost Angeles: Dating in L.A. is Hard

Dating is difficult no matter where you are. People are fickle, complex and for the most part we have finally learned the importance of self-love before depending on someone else for happiness. So that means we’re picky too.

However, I’m convinced that living in L.A. and trying to find someone to hold your hand for longer than three months is a little harder than it might be in, let’s say Cowmont, Texas. The proof is in the numbers. According to the Pew Research Center, the average age for women to get married the first time in California is 27. This puts us three years older than Idaho, Arkansas and Oklahoma—where the median age for marriage is 24—and a year below the 28-year-old average of East Coast states New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. 

While I’ve always been the overachiever who tries to live an above-average life, this is one area where being above average isn’t exactly a bragging right. And as if we haven’t heard it enough from family members when we go home (“Are you seeing anyone?” “But what happened to what’s-his-name?”), we are constantly hit by the barrage of reminders on social media of how alone we are compared to the happily-married-with-kids people on our feed.

To this, I externally fight back with travel photos, late-night excursions and career goals, but personally, I want a family too. The paradigm of dating at an older age inevitably consists of knowing yourself well and therefore becoming a little more close-minded about the people you consider as dating material. That and of course the internal time-bomb (growing louder and faster every day) that is our aging ovaries. Sorry, guys. 

For now, I’m delving into the patterns and behavior of dating culture in L.A., hoping to find a rhythm, some understanding and eventually…a partner?