On our drive home from the office the other night, while driving through a residential neighborhood in the pouring rain, I came to the embarrassing and distressing realization that we were completely out of gas.  I hurried to try to reach the gas station that was less than a mile away when the car began to sputter and we were left motionless on the side of the road.  I used my GPS-enabled iPhone to call AAA and give them the exact location of our car.  They informed me that the wait would be about 45 minutes and my wife, my 7-month old daughter, and my 3-year old daughter began a long, uncomfortable wait with me. 

My wife and I both knew that there was a gas station less than a ½ mile away.  She quickly pointed out to me that before technology, I would have gotten out of the car and walked in the rain to be a “knight in shining armor” to her and our two daughters.  Instead, there I sat, breathing the stale air of a disabled automobile, ashamed for not checking the gas and leaving my family stranded for 45 minutes while we wait on a tow truck driver to be the hero for my family.    

This got me thinking.  Has technology killed the chivalrous man?

I asked some female friends and colleagues if they felt the same way, and got some interesting stories:

• Rather than a card and flowers, my friend Amanda recently got a simple text message from her boyfriend that read, “Happy Valentine’s Day!”
• Rachel noted that since buying a car with remote door locks six years ago, her husband has not opened the car door for her even once. 
• Ashley recently went on a first date with a guy who “poked” her on an Internet dating site.  When he arrived at her apartment he called from his cell phone to let her know he was downstairs waiting for her in his car.
• Melanie says that she and her husband had a long standing tradition of going out to dinner and a movie every Friday night, but in the 6-months since her husband discovered On-Demand movies on cable, the routine has turned into leftovers and a movie on the couch much to her dismay.

For the record, I don’t think I was non-chivalrous by not walking ½ mile in the rain.  I think I made the smart and logical choice.  Personally, I’m not sure that technology has killed chivalry; I think that technology just gives some men an excuse to let it fade away.