Dating?

So you know how in the "old days" people would just go on dates, just to see if they like that person or not. How come people don't do that anymore? Now everything is like, an entirely different game.

This is what happens now:
Some guy sees a girl who took a cute myspace picture.
he adds her with some sleezy comment like "Aye d0h gurl, y00h noe y00h finna txt meh"
and the girl's like "OMG, did you see the way he talked to me, he's really into me"
and then they see eachother at a party and stuff is either really awkward because they've arranged something or it's just a fail.

This is what happened then:
Boy sees girl.
Boy says something nice to her to make her notice him.
girl starts putting ribbons and stuff in her hair to doll herself up.
He asks her if she would like to go on a date....and of course, in magic land, she says yes.
He does countless things trying to keep her all to himself.
she spends a bunch of time trying to keep him trying to do those things.


so here I am....being a single lady....wondering...what's appropriate anymore.
is it still okay to go on dates with many guys to see which one you like?
Or is that now cruel and slutty to do?
And since everyone does talk to people through texting and myspace and aim and all that stuff all the time, when do you stop wishing things were different and start giving into the guys trying to get at you on the internet and get past the akwardness?
I don't know dude, but I feel soooooo out of place.