Have you ever been asked for your Instagram handle in public? Have you ever been on delivered for hours? How does that make you feel? In today's society, a text means everything, but is it really that important?
Social media affects teenagers' thoughts on love by invoking a range of emotions. From happiness, to jealousy. This is why many relationships don't last, there is a lack of maturity and trust.
As easy as it is to meet someone on social media, it's easier to be unfaithful as well. Today, teenagers worry about their partner liking another person's picture, texting multiple people, and more. In other words, social media has given teenagers trust issues.
When you are attracted to someone, your one goal is to make them your partner. You start texting them all day everyday in hopes your situation will evolve into something more serious. But, this taints our vision of true love.
I asked students at Costa Mesa High School about their opinion of love. Michelle Samame, a junior, replied “Love is putting effort in all the time whether it be a small gesture or just texting and calling you throughout the day. If they can't do the bare minimum they are not worth it.”
Julian Holden, a senior, said “Social media obscures our vision of love because it makes us believe that all relationships are perfect when in reality, they are not as good as couples make it seem. You can like another person's picture or follow someone and you're automatically cheating. No one ever really sees the hardships people go through and because of that, they don't know how to deal with them when they are put in that position.”
Teens feel a lot of pride, it’s probably one of the strongest emotions they feel. Almost every teenager's ego is too high to put in the effort someone else’s wants and needs. And when this happens, relationships crumble. “They didn't text me first, so I won't text them ever again.”
Older generations praised love and did anything and everything for their partner. Love back then was very innocent and harmless and did big gestures of love. For example, in Mexico girls would wake up during the night to music outside their window by their lover. Today, this is very rare.
