You’re probably thinking that ‘trends’ is a relatively strange word to use for things like relationships. What could “relationship trends” possibly mean, and how can these trends be predicted?
Just like the stock market, fashion, business and lifestyle seem to have periodic trends, relationships too have trends. It sometimes so happens that an entire generation of people at a particular time, all over the world, display certain particular and similar characteristics when it comes to the relationships in their lives, and that creates a unanimous trend in terms of relationships.
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
So what causes relationship trends to form?
There are quite a number of factors which determine a trend in relationships. The way our parents generations, or their parents generation felt about love and relationships is very different from the way we feel about love, and the way we feel about love is vastly different from the way the next generation feel about relationships in their lives. Therefore, a generation gap is one of the reasons that cause trends to shift from time to time. Another possibly cause is the increased connectivity via social media, which has vastly affected the inter-personal communications between people. Social media therefore is also responsible for creating trends. Several other reasons like growing awareness, social movements, cinema and the arts, etc. are responsible for creating trends for the present and future generations.
Suggested read: 7 Relationship Trends With Zilch Benefits, And Which Need To Be Put A Stop To
Here are some relationship trends that the future generations are moving towards, that might take you in by surprise!
1. People will prefer being single
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
Singlehood is something that a lot of people from the past were wary of. For them, a happy, fulfilling relationship that usually ended up in marriage was the epitome of a happy and stable life. In the future however, single people will not feel the need to adhere to this notion of moving about in pairs. The company that previous generations sought in their partners will be replaced by technology and maybe even pets, but having a person to keep you company when you are old is a concept that is likely to become obsolete.
In fact, more spinsters and bachelors will emerge. This is due to the increasing independence that people are feeling because of their education and exposure, which will make them believe that being with one person for the entirety of their lives will be a restrictive experience. Don’t get me wrong, relationships will exist, but being single will be the ultimate preference.
2. The age considered “normal” for marriage will increase
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
If you have noticed, the age at which people are expected to get married is increasing with every generation. Our grandparents got married when they were 20 (latest) and sometimes even in their teens. Out parents’ generation got married when they were 22 or 24 or earlier. In the current scenario, the normal marriageable is considered to be the late 20s or 30s and even the 40s, without facing pressure or ostracization in society.
In the future, if people do get married, it is possible that the existence of an age which is considered “normal” for marriage will become totally obsolete. People will be free to marry whenever they please, or not at all. People will marry as late as they want, without restrain.
3. Gender roles will be challenged
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Even though things have become quite progressive now, gender roles are still in place, and women are confined certain gender roles that adhere to certain regressive stereotypes about women, and men are still the primary breadwinner and it is imperative for them to get a job and “earn for the family”. The biggest proof of this is the wage gap. It in the future, gender roles are likely to change and be challenged. Men will start staying at home more, and even if they don’t, women will be equally responsible for earning for the family as them.
Gender roles will be challenged not only in terms of professionalism but also in terms of relationships, as women will start making the first move and taking initiative, reversing the entire process of chivalry.
4. Open relationships will be the norm
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Open relationships is different from cheating. It is an arrangement where two people consensually come to the decision to be able to have sex with other people, while being in a relationship with each other. This will also lead to situations where threesomes become common. I am not sure whether the trend of open relationships will lead to relationships becoming stronger or weaker, but they will definitely be an interesting development in the world of relationship.
Suggested read: 10 Dating Trends That Need To Be Stopped ASAP
5. Relationship classes
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Strange as it may sound, classes to handle marriage and relationships are becoming increasingly common, and are likely to become a highly sought after relationship trend in the future. These classes are a crash course on the hurdles to expect in life and how to handle them. These classes are an extreme form of couple’s therapy, which people use to connect more with their partners.
The inability to spend enough physical time with each other because of tight schedules is a problem that exists even now. In the future, as pressures increase and couple’s spend more time away from each other, problems and miscommunication, or even lack of communication will increase and patience will be absent. To be able to work through those problems, people will start attending marriage and relationship classes.
6.Multiple marriages will be normal
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
This particular relationship trend was previously confined only to celebrities, but more and more regular people have started practicing serial monogamy, meaning it will become quite the trend in the future. The concept of marriage “till death to us part” is going to become highly obsolete because of the increasing number of divorces and re-marriages. People will marry twice, thrice, even more times when they feel that their lives with their current partners are not working out, and it will become a highly normal part of life.
7. Single and unwed parents
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
Single parents, and couples who have children but are not married is likely to become of the most popular trends in terms of relationships of the future. The obligation to get married in order to have kids is more obsolete than ever. Kids of the future might just pull a Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, and despite spending their entire lives together and being parents to kids, they might forgo the marriage part of the whole thing. Single parents will also become a trend, and having kids via surrogacy is also likely to become a key determining factor in relationships of the future.
8. Online dating will be the primary source of meeting new people
Image source: Google, copyright-free image, under Creative Commons License
Even though the romance of accidental meetings in public places is a thing in today’s relationship, the future will leave very little scope of bumping into your soul mate on the street. Dating apps are already flooding the market, and people are already telling their kids how mom and dad met on Tinder, but that is going to become far more intense in the future. Apart from Tinder, specialized dating apps are going to appear which will bring people close together, and that will become the primary source of meeting new people and dating. This is also because real-life communication is becoming more obsolete as people find it more comfortable to simply text what they are thinking. A digital medium will also allow them to express themselves more freely.
Suggested read: Wrong-number Relationships: Empowering Or A New Way To Bully?
9. People will get into relationships for themselves
Image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
Previously, people thought about their partners and concepts like sacrifice and compromise were of utmost importance when it came to being in relationships and making things work. Primarily, people were willing to settle. What is likely to happen in the future is that the motivation to get into a relationship is based more on self-interest than a mutual feeling of giving and sharing.
With access to more technology, more people and more opportunities, the need to find someone who satisfies one’s own needs and ideas is of primary importance, rather than to work towards making a relationship work. This is because the option to move on is much more widely available and much more easily acceptable. Everyone will have a rough idea of what they want, and will look for a partner who will be able to fulfill that idea, rather than settle for what they have.
Trends in relationships keep changing, and it is because of a number of external factors such as environment, technology and communication with others. Along with every other evolving institution in the world, relationships too are changing and it is imperative to have a rough idea of what they will become in a few years, in order to accommodate oneself in the system of things.
Featured image source: Pixabay, under Creative Commons License
Facebook
Disqus
Google + 
