Summary Of Love In The Age Of Like By Aziz Ansari

Aziz Ansari explores the phenomenon of online dating and the modern love in “Love in the Age of Like”. Ansari’s fascination with dating stems from his parents successful arranged marriage. His father chose his mother from three women his family arranged for him to meet after a thirty minute conversation and determining she was the correct height for him. A week later they were married and have lived a happy thirty-five years together. Ansari contrasts this with a story of him trying to find the best place to eat in Seattle where he spends so much time trying to find the perfect place that he ends up eating a sandwich before a show because he ran out of time to go to a restaurant. He spent more time doing research on a restaurant he did not even get to eat at than his father did when choosing a bride. Ansari questions how the compulsion by people in his generation to search for the best affects their romantic choices. Today’s generation endlessly seeks out romantic opportunities past generations did not have the option to consider. The multi-billion dollar online dating industry seems to be a never-ending pool of opportunity. With a Smartphone anyone can be connected with a digital bar of single and
However, as Ansari observes men online are not necessarily lonely and desperate. He illustrates this point using an interview with a man named Derek, a boring nobody. Ansari is astonished as he scrolls past a woman who by every measure is more desirable than Derek for reason such as their taste in sports teams. As he points out this rejection would have never been possible without online dating. If Derek had meet this beautiful women in a bar in the 90’s and actually had a chance with her he would have never turned her away because of something as mundane as the Red Sox. Now through the power of the internet he could look past her without a second