By Mokshika Sharma
Valentine’s is almost here, and with it, the day for singles to wonder what’s wrong with them. Not just on Valentine’s, people keep over-thinking about the reasons behind them not having a lover around the year. About questions that if the answer is their qualities like looks, past and personal issues, the answer is a No. But for fingers pointed towards age and generation, Yes. Green Signal! Because this article is all about Gen Z. However, instead of telling you about some probable individual flaws, this article will talk about our flawed approaches and understanding of dating and relationships.
Where does Gen Z go wrong with dating? The answer to this lies within ourselves, we just need to be able to see it through.
1. Infatuation is not love
We think of relationships as rollercoaster rides. In the last two years, Covid-19 turned our lives upside down. Through the dark period where even stepping out of our rooms felt unsafe, a surprisingly big amount of people, especially Gen Z, came into committed relationships and fell in love. Cute, isn’t it? But actually, the complete fact is that these people fell out of love as fast as they fell in. How? because it surely wasn’t a symptom of Covid-19. The reason behind this was that people started connecting with people more often. A lot of them felt infatuated with them and assumed it was love. And as soon as the potion of love wore off, they thought their love wasn’t meant to be.
2. It’s either one dance or toxic romance for us
If we look around, we can see all kinds of people around us. What if you were told that most people are divided into just three categories: One, who call their relationships off at early stages; Second, who don’t call them quits for the life of them; and this, the ones who write such articles. Where Gen Z goes wrong is that they either are too pessimistic to work out issues with their partners or they try to make uncountable efforts to stay in a hopeless relationship.
If we stop turning a blind eye, it is actually possible to understand who is worth putting efforts into and who isn’t, but sometimes, Gen Z is impatient and dumbfound to figure that out.
3. We let films, series, social media and fake scenarios kill the meaning of communication
Humans tend to connect everything they see and like to themselves. This is why we watch fictional characters start fantasizing about being with them. Gen Z tends to confuse these connecting lines and let these unreal scenarios affect our notions of love. But sadly, real relationships don’t work like every Shah Rukh Khan on-screen romance. Gen Z needs to understand that communication doesn’t mean to express feelings till it’s filmy and cute, it means to be crystal clear about everything, especially feelings and intentions. But Gen Z seems to be confused.
4. We ignore the red flags, forget self-respect and individuality in relationships
In the name of love, everything is NOT fair. So many people, especially the young Gen Z think that when two people come together, the priority should be love and the lover. This is not true. One should always balance between their different life aspects. Where Gen Z goes wrong is that we ignore the red flags and get hurt later on. Some people let their partners disrespect them. All of this is unacceptable, and Gen Z needs to understand that. We deserve a love that doesn’t harm our minds, health and self-respect.
5. The ghosting trend is a real killer
Ghosting is a very popular and widely-used term for Gen Z. It basically refers to ending any relationship without explanations and closure. Ghosting sometimes scares people more than real ghosts. The question is why does Gen Z believe in such a hurtful concept? Sadly, there is no single answer. Some might ghost because they lose interest, while others might ghost because they were never into the person. Some people even prefer ghosting the person they like too much. Sounds complicated, no? And how can we expect something this complicated to not affect our love lives? The ghosting trend indeed is a killer. Gen Z, don’t let it murder your romance!