"Till Death Do Us Part" In 2016? Pssshhhhh......Yeah right! Today in the United States and many other parts of the world marriage doesn't mean the same thing as it did in the past.  

Whether you are male or female your partner probably doesn't need you so the first time you accidentally do something weird like put the peanut butter in the refrigerator you better be on high alert.  The relationship could be over.  

In the bigger cities there are so many other potential partners at least in perception that a relationship or marriage could be over very quickly if things aren't going that great.  There used to be a stigma about people getting a divorced but now no one cares.  It is almost expected.  Sometimes marriages only last a couple months or a year and the whole situation is a disaster.  

How Did We Get Here?

If you think about it this makes logical sense in a lot of ways. I'm not going to go into the history of marriage throughout the world because it is too in depth and outside the scope of this post but in the United States religious ties steered people toward getting married before they would have sex for the purpose of having children.  Having sex has often been demonized in the religious world and almost treated as a necessary evil for creating babies.  

People are largely abandoning religions in most developed nations.  The statistics don't show the whole story in my opinion because there are a lot of people in the United States who will identify as Christians when asked but it really had no barring on their everyday life.  They don't pray, they don't read The Bible, they don't go to church.  They wouldn't have otherwise thought about it unless asked if they are a Christian or not.  In places like Finland this is even more pronounced.  I have heard from several sources that one of the main reasons people keep any kind of tie to the church at all is so they have a physical place to get married if they decide to go that route.  Otherwise a lot of people will look at a person who is religious like someone who is standing on the street corner saying they are casting spells on people.  

With people putting less weight into religious beliefs relating to marriage or sex there becomes less of a reason to potentially get married in the first place or to even be in a committed relationship.  

Why Do People Get Married in 2016?

There are a lot of situations where the old rules still apply.  They possibly might be religious and they might feel like this is a stronger bond to raise children.  

I have seen people get married for insurance reasons.  Basically one person could be put on the other persons insurance policy so they went ahead and got married.  Sometimes it is because the female gets pregnant so they rush into getting married because of the kid.  These are often called "Shotgun Weddings." Another reason I have seen is because they have been sold this dream that by an entire industry.  

I consider weddings to be right in there with senior class rings, prom, and senior pictures.  It is a very lucrative industry.  

Once they are married they realize it might not have been to the right person or that it isn't all it was cracked up to be.  It didn't live up to the expectations they have fantasized about after watching a reality TV show about marriage.  

There is still a strong social stigma in a lot of people's minds that you are supposed to make certain steps at certain times otherwise you are "behind."  Buying a house, marriage, and having kids are the three main things I see this affect.  Depending on what part of the country you are in these ages could very.  

Where I'm originally from in Indiana people who believe you will go to Hell if you have sex before you are married are on a quicker progression and will often get married before 22 years old.  People who aren't as religious and are female will typically feel like they need to be married before 25.  There is a lot of peer pressure as well.  If all their friends are getting married they almost feel left out of the crowd.  In bigger cities this age could stretch up around 30 years old.  Even with more time to think about things these women also can get worried about "running out of time" especially with regards to having children.  

I had a friend of a friend who admitted that she just got married because she "felt old."

There are still a lot of people who get married because they perceive that their life will become easier.  On the extreme spectrum of this you have the Gold Diggers who are just after the money.  It is still a very real thing.  In the scope of this post the Gold Digger situation does apply when they are only getting married to then get divorced so they can collect 50% of the assets and alimony payments for the rest of their life potentially.  

Final Thoughts

People's threshold for putting up with other people is very low these days.  They don't have to put up with your issues or try to work things out.  They can probably find another person to hang around with for awhile fairly easily especially with dating sites / apps.  

It is a lot more exciting to hang out with new and interesting people instead of just continuing to hang out with the same person who sharts themselves in their sleep and puts the peanut butter in the refrigerator. 

This has lead to it actually being hard to be in a long lasting relationship for a lot of people.  A girlfriend / boyfriend situation is often not that official and can end instantly by the other person "ghosting" you by not getting back with you or doing a "slow fade" where the person continually makes excuses to why they can't hang out and then is slow to respond until you give up trying to hang out with them.  

If a situation does get a little more serious and for one reason or another you do end up getting married the situation could be more like a Girlfriend / Boyfriend situation from the 1960's.   You guys are "Going Steady."  Don't expect it to last forever.  A year later you could end up fighting over custody of the dogs you bought together.  

There are still long lasting relationships and marriages out there but they are getting harder to spot. I ultimately see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future.  

Good luck out there!  

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