As Valentine’s Day approaches, I thought I would humor everyone with a single girl’s take on love. Yeah—I’m serious.

I should probably throw in a disclaimer first. I’m not exactly a mushy, sappy person. I don’t like heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, I refuse to listen to poetry and if a guy proposes to me on the big screen at a sporting event, you better believe I’m turning him down. So my point of view may be slightly biased. Take it for what it’s worth.

To me, our grandparents’ generation truly epitomizes the meaning of love. I’ve heard several stories from couples who describe the simplicity of finding someone to spend the rest of their lives with. They’d actually meet through conventional means, like social events, mutual friends or random acquaintances. They’d even write letters to each other or travel many miles to meet.

While I won’t deny that love like that still exists today, I think so many things have transpired since then that have complicated the path to love. Now, instead of going out to meet someone, people use dating Web sites like Match.com or eHarmony.com. Although they pair people based on “dimensions of compatibility,” no profile match can guarantee that spending time together won’t be awkward without a computer screen between each other.

Even communication has become increasingly difficult. Letters have turned into a medium of the past, replaced now by texting and instant messaging. With the added technicalities of technology and the instantaneous need for response, messages are typically not as well thought out and may leave the recipient wondering about the degree of meaning and emotion conveyed by the response. Things like this only increase the difficulty of developing a solid relationship with someone.

However, what is most disheartening to me, especially being a woman, is the recent release of a female sex robot named Roxxxy. I’m not kidding (you can look it up on CNN’s Web site). While I won’t go into the disturbing details (it doesn’t deserve the space on this page), it’s important to note that the inventor actually says there’s a need for something like this in our society. Seriously? It’s gotten so difficult to find love that men are forced to rely on robots for satisfaction? Give me a break. If you really want to complicate your love life, men, buy a sex robot, bring a real girl home and then watch what happens when she finds it. Trust me, nothing will make you look more like a tool.

So, with all of these obstacles out there obstructing the path to a relationship, how do we manage to celebrate love on Valentine’s Day? Take a little advice from our elders and keep it simple. Shed your security blanket, step away from the computer and put yourself out there. Go out to social places and meet people. Look to your friends and family for connections. You have to be proactive in your search for love—you can’t always wait around for love to find you. When you remove the things that have complicated love over the years, you’ll find that it’s not as hard as you think. Maybe it’s a matter of taking a second look at that person you’ve never considered—just don’t glance a second time at that sex robot.