Dating in the Tens

Remember the old days when you might meet a handsome, humorous man and he'd ask for your number?

First, in those days all you'd have to exchange would be a single telephone number—your home number. If you had the type of job that enabled you to talk on the phone at the office, you might also give him your office number. And to exchange these numbers, you'd dig around in your purse for a card on which were printed these bits of data.

Nowadays? There are multiple points of information. There's your home phone, your office phone, your mobile phone, your personal e-mail, your office e-mail, your Twitter ID, your Facebook ID, and much more. Oh, and your name. There's a chance that you've gotten through the getting-to-know-you e-mails and the opening 95% of the first date without knowing each other's last names.

Netting it out, what's important? There are two key points: mobile phone and personal e-mail. That's all you need. But how to exchange it. Hand him my business card, which I've flipped over and on which I've scribbled the two key points. That scribbling assumes I was able to find a pen in my purse. If you're very organized, like my friend Melinda, you have printed cards with all your personal information. When you meet a new friend, you hand him or her that personal card. I'm obviously not that organized.

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Here's how organized I'm not: I spent all afternoon sewing a bag for Boston and Ridley's upcoming school gala. It wasn't until I was sitting at the table, waiting for my Panera buzzer to start vibrating, that I looked down and realized my black cashmere turtleneck was covered with little white threads. Argh! I'm 1) too old for this nonsense; 2) too out of practice; or 3) brain-dead. Pick one!
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So in the "Tens", what's the technology-forward way to handle the challenge? Once he divulges his last name, you whip out your iPhone, press the Contacts icon, start a new contact, enter his name, tap Phone and hand your iPhone to him to enter his number. After saving the Contact entry with his phone and e-mail, you quickly send him an e-mail so he has your e-mail in his inbox.

Please tell me in which decade things became so complex.