Do you find yourself in a ‘situationship’ this Valentine’s Day?

Photo credit: Valeria Cruz

By Celeste Simmons | Posted on Feb. 10, 2016

Valentine’s Day is the one day out of the year designated specifically to love. A day in which you shower your signi cant other with gifts or get showered with gifts.

It is the day where you get all dressed up, go on a well planned out date, take cute pictures together and post them on Instagram with cute captions and hashtags underneath.

But that is not the case for everyone. Many people, college students especially, think of Valentine’s Day as a day filled with loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty.

Over the past couple of years around Valentine’s Day, social media has been lled with meme’s and quotes about Netflix being someone’s Valentine or gifts for side chicks.

While love is still alive and well, you see more people bashing it online than promoting it. You see and read more about side chicks and side dudes more than you see boyfriends and girlfriends. Why is that?

One reason could be the rise of “situationships.”

According to Urban Dictionary, a situationship is defined as “a relationship that has no label on it. Like a friendship but more than a friendship but not quite a relationship.”

A situationship is pretty much a relationship without the title. College students in particular are usually involved in these. Situationships are very popular on college campuses, but are they a good or bad thing?

“I’m in a situationship” said Arleny Almonte, a senior at Kean. “You don’t have the stress of a relationship and you get to do whatever you want.”

Many people view situationships as a positive thing because there is no title. There is no boyfriend or girlfriend and there is no real obligation to the other person. You can spend one night with them and the next with someone else and there are no repercussions. However, not everyone feels like those are all good things.

“I think of it as an incomplete relationship where you both know it should be a thing but you’re just stalking for time or being sel sh,” said Abjude Pierre, a senior at Kean. “Everyone claims they want to be in a relationship but no one wants to actually put the effort towards being in a relationship. They would rather just be messing around with people.”

So what does all this mean for the future of relationships? With so many people engaging in situationships will that delay the idea of getting married?

“I think the situationships are definitely a part of it,” Pierre said. “Because society is making them okay. Like if everyone is like it’s okay to have a girlfriend and a side chick then you’ll be like well why do I have to settle down?”

From a holiday that used to be a celebration of love, the definition of relationships with significant others has changed drastically over the years.