Labels, situationships, cheating, hookups, commitment. These words stand out to our generation because they have become so prominent in our culture and changed the way we navigate our relationships. Glance to your left while walking down the hallway, you might see one of your exes or ex “situationships.” Or, maybe you even take a different route from class to purposely avoid them. Glance to your right, you might even see somebody you know personally who went through a breakup of their own. Nearly every student can relate that breakups can be messy, and even messier when cheating and hooking up is involved.
Hookup culture accepts and encourages casual encounters without involving any sort of romantic feelings or any sort of committed relationships. This can directly lay hand in hand with how easy it can be for cheating to occur in relationships, no matter how long or short they may be.
Senior Madison Mayhall has been in a relationship for nearly a year, and notes how difficult it can be to find someone who wants the same level of commitment you do.
“Half of the teenagers I know just want to mess around instead of date, and hookup or cheat on their significant others because they’re unloyal. The other half of teenagers are looking for someone to commit to, but can’t find the right people because it’s getting kind of rare to find nowadays,” Mayhall said. “Cheating has become so normal in relationships, I know so many people who have experienced being cheated on or people who have cheated on their girlfriend or boyfriend, and it’s never worth it.”
Senior Jackson Squires has experienced firsthand the effect. “I personally have had a lot of issues in the past getting into serious relationships, and I have just recently gotten into one myself. I trust her and myself enough to know that neither of us are going to cheat. but a lot of couples I know are in different situations and don’t trust each other at all,” Squires said. “Trust is a huge thing with me, and it should be with a lot of people. It’s the most important thing in a relationship in my opinion, because if you can’t trust someone you aren’t going to get very far. Cheating and hookup culture has made it harder to fully trust someone though, and I think a lot of people are traumatized or have trust issues from past relationships because they’re scared of getting played again.” Sophomore D’Angelo Johnson reflects on his own thoughts about cheating, and how it is generally pointless to do. “Cheating isn’t worth it. If you’re unhappy, you cut things off. Same thing if you take somebody back who cheated on you, you shouldn’t do that. Cutting things off is the easiest way for both people to go about it. Or just don’t do it,” Johnson said. “Cheating makes you look like a player and it’s not going to make people want you in the future when they find out how you treated your ex. So many people are just messing around and treating other people badly in the meantime,” Johnson said.
These types of scenarios can drag down your self-confidence and leave you weary and hesitant to trust somebody again. Our generation’s values in relationships have been permanently tainted as we begin to find new values in relationships, while also finding multiple new words for the level of commitment they share. Terms like ‘situationship’ and ‘friends with benefits’ are easy to use when we don’t know how to truly describe and label our bonds. “Don’t waste your time on someone who isn’t committed to you, or anyone who is playing with your feelings. You don’t need a relationship to thrive,” Squires said.
