The Culture of No Commitment

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With the sweet intentions of having your very own love story, you find yourself kissing more than a couple of toads to get there. We constantly have this end goal of wanting to discover our unique versions of love, or commitment, for ourselves, yet we continue to be intimate with casual people to satisfy an urge that’s not as deep as love. In this day and age, our generation lacks creating deep connections and opening up to others because it’s so much easier to avoid the complications of attachment with too much emotion. There is the undesirable vulnerability that comes with the draining feeling of someone that’s too possessive, or much worse, the painful feeling of loving someone too hard that you push them away- leaving us with the easiest way to find the fix of being deeply desired without the commitment or emotional connection. The cure to avoid emotional attachment: casual hookups.

Intimately engaging with a person casually is defined differently by every party involved. For the most part, these one-time intimate moments fulfill a temporary feeling that takes away from the experience of actually connecting with someone. What about the butterflies in your stomach that make you melt? What about the time that Disney told you to believe in a true loves kiss? What about that overwhelming fleeting look before the moment you embrace him? The culture of no commitment has taken away these ideas of respect, pleasure, excitement, privacy, and emotional love. Long before social media gave us dating apps, women were expected to marry off to a successful man immediately, but not given the resources to just skip to the part where intimate without getting to know each other.

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It’s a girl’s night. You’re preparing to turn on your going out playlist. Cassie's Me and U has you strutting around your room without a care in the world, Fergie’s Fergalicious has you yelling into your hairbrush, and Lady Gaga’s Love Game reminds you how alluring and appealing you are. This sensual music was a cultural phenomenon that gave many individuals the mindset and power to be promiscuous. With mass communications advancements, most restrictions in the dating world have been lifted. The time zone, your location, awkwardness, and insecurities are some restrictions that dating apps have completely illuminated for our generation, and the generations to come. We are quickly being trained to not commit, because why would you when you have the desired plethora of options at your fingertips, while given the ability to make it effective and efficient- but not always successful. 

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Of course, we all have the basic need for human connection, and pleasure, which includes wanting a forever partner that we are infatuated with, emotionally and intimately. However, this generation is too afraid to have the human experience of falling out of love, putting in more effort, and learning from these moments. Social Media has evolved the culture of no commitment by putting human connection on the backburner, and attractiveness, and efficiency as the most important things. Unfortunately, it is more undemanding than attempting to destroy the memories of a potential long-term life you could have established with this person that is worthy of your love. The no-commitment culture still has a lot of time to grow and learn that your worth is the real soul that is within you. 

Strike Out, 

Writer: Racquel Gluckstern 

Editor: Breanna Tang

Tallahassee