I'm not gonna lie, it's tough being a single lady out there. I know it has its downside for (some) men too, but for a women who has been raised to believe in the sanctity of romance, chivalry and impassioned engagement, the world is anything but your oyster in 2016. There's a reason more and more women are choosing to sleep alone than ever before. In fact, there are many reasons. But here's what I like the call the big 3.

Privacy & Respect For Personal Space Is Gone

There's something uniquely terrifying about opening up to someone who has, more likely than not, creeped out your entire online history and probably knows more about you than some of your friends. Do you actually love David Hasselhoff videos, or did you just notice that I've posted it on Facebook at least 14 times and decide to use my own insanity against me? How could I ever trust again after such a deep betrayal? And the flip side is even worse! Because if that dude from the gym isn't stalking your listening history on soundcloud, he's probably just busy drafting up a horrifying DM. Or even worse, using the magnifying tool in Photoshop!

The Swipe Generation

Don't lie, you're guilty too. Everyone is too busy looking at everyone else that nothing seems good enough for any of us. Of course there's someone out there who's hotter, someone who's in better shape, someone who is funnier (pffft!), there are always going to be “better” people out there! But this is not a game, the goal isn't to constantly be laddering-up and trying to beat your high-score! It's to connect. To love deeply. To forge two hearts into one. Remember?

The Best Friend Is Dead

Can anyone even remember a time when being in a relationship and falling in love meant spending every waking moment together. Not busy posting Instagram photos or doing whatever the hell Pokemon is, but really being alone together and feeling as if the entire world had disappeared and the only person left who mattered was the one next to you, staring you in the eyes (your real ones, not the ones in your profile pic!)? That seems like another world doesn't it?

Who knows, perhaps love really is dead. Perhaps it's just the natural evolution of human relationships. A dispensary for companionship. A quick break from the daily soul-chilling realization that we are all so very utterly and very truly alone.