When I was in high school, people in relationships used to tell each other that they loved one another very quickly into the relationship. Yes, I believe there is a difference between ‘love’ and ‘in love’ but the word ‘love’ still has a type of weight to it. I love my parents, I love my best friends, and I love my dog, but I don’t love a boy I started dating a month ago.

Even though you may not be saying ‘I’m in love with you,’ saying ‘I love you’ to a significant other means something completely different than saying it to your roommate because there are no romantic feelings that come along with your best girl friend.

We’ve all seen posts on Instagram and Twitter that have captions saying “Happy One Month Babe, I love you so much” and then the couple is broken up just one week later.

How is it that years ago ‘I love you’s’ were carefully thought out. They were only said when they were meant and they were a big deal. People used to be nervous to tell the person that they were dating that they love them and now it just seems to be something that comes fastened onto a premature relationship.

Love doesn’t mean what it used to. ‘I love you’ used to be something a girl got butterflies in stomach finally hearing. It used to be such a great feeling because when it was said, it was meant. Love is not love anymore when it comes to romantic relationships. ‘I love you’ means ‘I like you’ way too often in today’s society.

We were taught as children not to say ‘hate’ because it is such a strong word, but we were never taught not to overuse such a strong word like ‘love’ into a place where it has lost all of its meaning.

When someone tells me they love me I want to know that they mean it, not that they think they have to say because I want to hear it or because it has turned into the conventional thing.