Historically, marriage was and always was meant for bearing and raising children. So dating (or courting, as it used to be called) was for the express purpose of finding someone who would be a good father/mother down the road. Having a loving spouse and devoted spouse was obviously very important, but it was understood that ideally the marriage would end in children and family. People got married earlier, typically early twenties. All of that is pretty much out the window now, save for traditional/religious people (I'm speaking in a Western context. I promise you that the "dating scenes" in the Amazonian rain forest or on Sentinel Island are doing just fine). Our society has raised people who don't, in terms of large numbers, prioritize children first above themselves as was expected in the past, so now you have the obvious result: Lot's of internet narcissists complaining about how nobody is good enough for them.
