By Shelly Williams/se news editor
As if the world of dating and relationships wasn’t complicated enough, according to an article from the Dartmouth Free Press, students have started a new trend looking for that long-term connection.
However, it’s not as long-term as it sounds.
It’s called serial monogamy. UrbanDictionary.com defines the term as “one who spends as little time as possible being single, moving from the end of one relationship to the beginning of a new one as quickly as possible.”
So much for girls spending that single time lying in bed watching sad, romantic flicks while spoon-feeding themselves their favorite grief ice cream out of the container.
But it’s not just girls on the prowl for Mr. Right through these “committed” relationships. More guys are beginning to look for their special someone as well.
“With dating around, I don’t feel like there’s a strong enough connection,” SE student Ryan Davila said. “In a committed relationship, a connection is what makes that relationship, and it’s just nice to have that connection.”
So if girls want that committed relationship, they better start looking before all the good ones are taken.
However, a downside to this new trend is the broken hearts afterward. Not taking the time to be on your own for a while can prevent your learning who you are and what you want out of life.
Dating used to protect fragile hearts from the battering of a breakup and allow freedom to do your own thing without worrying about the “us” factor. It helped us sort out the pros and cons and decide what we wanted in our dream guy or girl.
Instead, some prefer to go more of a masochistic route these days, having their heart stepped on time after time for fear of being alone. Then it’s off to find the next “Could this be the one?”
Let’s face it. When it comes to relationships or casual dating, college students often suffer from one of two things. We’re either commitaphobic and afraid to put ourselves out there because of rejection, or we have a fear of being alone, causing us to lose sight of what we as individuals are capable of doing.
