Questions like “why hasn’t he snapped me back?” plague the hallways of WJ. Ideas based falsely on loose hopes and dreams of a potential relationship seems to be more common than getting into one. Hooking up, having a Snapchat streak, or even a simple glance in the halls is seen as true romance in today’s dating world. Dating has really evolved; the norm used to be climbing into a girl’s window with flowers, but now, dating has turned into snapping pictures of a wall back and forth, or seeing someone at 2:00 a.m.
With how common it is to post a relationship on Instagram or listen to relationship advice on Youtube, it can be hard to separate a love story from the societal pressures of dating held on social media apps. Either it’s getting sad over the fact that your relationship isn’t like one that you saw online of a couple that has lasted throughout all of high school, or it’s hearing about your friends having 20 guys or girls added on Snapchat as new “prospects”, making you feel behind.
Today, 49.2% of WJ’s population has been in a relationship, with 15% having had sex. With such high numbers, it can be hard to not feel different when you seem to be the only one not having a boyfriend by your side.
Many idolize the decades of the absence of social media such as the 90s or the 60s, where dating would have the rush of waiting for a rock to hit your window, instead of waiting for a text back. Back then, the pressure of constantly checking a snap score or an activity status was non-existent. The mystique of dating before social media has a hold on today’s younger dating crowd, Dating back then wasn’t perfect though. Conversations about boys in particular seemed to stay stagnant throughout the years. Even though issues of social media weren’t a thing, physical ones were. With hookups becoming more popular in the 90s and 2000s, new problems arose.
With the rapid growing culture of meeting individuals on social media apps, it is hard to know what someone’s intentions may be or what they can be capable of. This can introduce the gray area of consent with coercion and not feeling safe to say no with the uncertainty of what the consequences could be.
This fear had been around forever, but expedited with the accessibility of social media. Groping, catcalling, and sexual comments seemed to be the norm amongst WJ students back in the late 90s and 2000s.
Even though hookup culture seems more popular now than ever before, hookup culture was booming – especially in the 2000s. At WJ, love started to seem secondary compared to sex. In 2005, going back to your ex over the weekend to make out or finding guys at parties to do sexual things with was common. Having a relationship seemed pointless when the same benefits were able to be done over a no commitment weekend. In a pitch article written in 2005, groping and lust was depicted as big of an issue as it is now. Latching onto flings that’ll lead nowhere just for a temporary boost of pleasure is a commonality still seen today amongst students.
Back then, TV shows such as Gossip Girl were blamed as a factor in teen sex and hookup culture growing rampant, but now, the same blame goes for social media. With apps like Snapchat, now it is easier than ever to find someone to be your sneaky link for the weekend. Instead of teens taking inspiration from their TV screens, they also take it from their peers’ conversations.
The romantic gestures of holding hands while eating lunch in the courtyard in the 60s seems to be long gone. Now, the equivalent would be sneaking a glance while going to G-Square. The high standards social media put on relationships and teen culture around social media changed the way relationships work – especially at WJ.
