Relationships mean absolutely nothing in today’s society because everybody is afraid of commitment and rejection, everybody believes human nature is fundamentally good and men are too afraid to approach women.
People are afraid of commitment because people are afraid of responsibility.
One of the consequences of this fear is the decline of romantic relationships.
For example, the phrase “falling in love” strikes fear in the hearts of people today. People want love, but don’t want to “fall.” They don’t want the pain of compromise and responsibility that comes with falling in love. People want the relationships, the sex and the intimacy that come with falling in love, but nothing else.
It’s similar to how people want positions of power without earning them, and once they earn them, they don’t want to actually use their power to make complex decisions.
Take for example how people want pizza without the calories, or to indulge in fast food without having to work it off afterwards at the gym.
People have been trained to want everything without the consequences or the work involved.
They’re are afraid of settling down and committing to somebody because this means they’d have to get to know the person beyond the physical. It only takes a night or two to get to know somebody’s body, but it can take months to get to know somebody on an intellectual and spiritual level. The most depressing fact about this is, the deeper you truly get to know somebody and their deep and dark thoughts, the more you hate them if your views on human nature are soft or if you believe all people are naturally good.
Humans aren’t all rainbows and unicorns, but people continue to assume humans are completely innocent creatures without any deep and dark depth.
This naive way of looking at humanity shapes the way one looks at love.
If you believe love is all smiles and butterflies, you’re in for a rude awakening when you have your first argument or your partner has a rather taboo need you’re too scared or shocked to fill.
Even though actual relationships are dying, hookup culture is becoming more prominent and accessible because of apps like Tinder and Bumble.
While these apps may be viewed as somewhat helpful because they take away the fear of rejection, they also contribute to the death of serious, romantic relationships.
It’s so much easier to send somebody a message than it is to actually talk to them face to face, but because of this, people who dislike social media and prefer to do things face to face are lonelier than ever.
Additionally, social media heightens needless speculation and gives people false impressions. For example, imagine seeing somebody you’re interested in posing in a picture with somebody else.
We’ll sit there and analyze the photo to see if there is any indication the person we are interested in is in a relationship.
We do this instead of simply asking the person face-to-face if they are in a relationship.
Why?
There are a plethora of reasons for this.
The first one is because rumors spread quickly, and people are always afraid of being the butt of a nasty joke or a malicious rumor if they were to get rejected.
This fear makes it so people are too afraid to be blunt and direct with people, and that leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding.
Instead of approaching somebody in person and saying, “I think you’re interesting, let’s go out,” people beat around the bush using messenger apps and social media.
Resorting to social media apps has contributed to the death of romantic love and furthered the hookup culture that has pervaded society.
Is there any hope for future romance?
Well, with our naive perception of humans, our tendency to to hide from our romantic interests behind apps along with our indifference for responsibilities — it looks like any sign of hope is slowly, but surely depleting.
I recommend you enjoy your one-night-stands and your “relationships” without depth, it’s all you’re going to have.
Jermelle MacLeod is a freshman studying philosophy. You can follow him on Twitter @jermelle_m
