Being a twenty-something-year-old, I've had my fair share of relationships, but quite honestly, there's been more of the "oh we're talking" for it to just fizz out in a week than anything else. Everyone wants the glorification and illusion of a relationship without the title. People these days would rather "Netflix and chill" than go to dinner and a movie. People would rather be labeled friends with benefits than boyfriend and girlfriend-- and it's actually just sad.
Our generation would rather have a perfect looking Instagram than a real honest relationship with a person, in person, and here are three reasons why that is.
1. We're scared of love.
Social media and the media, in general, are probably to blame for most of the fear- however, it's also how we react to said things. Half of our generation grew up with divorced parents and lived with the idea of failed love regularly. Thus, we predict the same things will happen to us, and we will end up hurt and broken- though it isn't always the case. But regardless, we're scared to "catch feelings" and fall in love, so we are willing to do anything to prevent that from happening.
2. We don't want to deal with the risk.
We live in a generation where people would rather "swipe right" or just hook up with someone than risk getting hurt. We'd rather have the illusion of a relationship than have the actual relationship itself. We don't want "real," we want easy, and we're willing to do the bare minimum to avoid the actual risk of having a real relationship with a significant other. The last thing we want to do is feel embarrassed, or get hurt, and we're willing to do anything to avoid the things that could hurt us.
3. We want a "placeholder," not a person.
We want someone who is guaranteed to always be there. Someone to lounge around on the couch with while you mindlessly watch the newest episode of Shameless. We want someone who is always going to be around when you want to go for a drive, we want a distraction. No one in our generation cares enough anymore to make the effort to make a connection with another human being because we are scared of getting hurt and with that, scared of taking the risk. We want to feel wanted by someone without wanting to feel like we need someone to make us truly happy. We continuously play hard to get to see how hard someone is willing to play back.
We play a game of "love" that no one seems to know the real rules of, and we continue to play until someone gets hurt, or someone gives up. It's an endless cycle that our generation plays, and we're scared to see who the winner is. We are the generation that hates the long-term relationship.
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