For most single people, Valentine's Day is a depressing experience. I inevitably see someone every year complaining on my Twitter feed about how single they are and how they wish they had someone to spend the day with. But who says love is where it's at? I've accumulated some facts that have been researched and published by scientists and psychologists to prove that maybe love and relationships aren't all they're cracked up to be.
1. Scientists say more than 90 percent of people worldwide will marry at least once in their life.
So don't fret... chances are it will happen, eventually.
2. Scientists cannot agree on what love is. This means love has many meanings. And in accordance with philosophy, things that have an infinite number of meanings cease to be meaningful.
Don't listen the next time someone tells you that Socrates, Aristotle or Plato was crazy. They knew what they were talking about.
3. Researchers are coming to the conclusion that romantic love came about to keep parents together so that their children will have a better chance of surviving. It's not so that people don't have to spend a holiday alone.
Nothing says romance like staying married so that you can cook dinner while your husband fends off the wild animal trying to eat your family.
4. If you’re in a relationship, looking at beautiful people all around you can make you feel negative about your partner.
The only upside of this is that if you're in a relationship then you're less likely to be interested in looking at other people in the first place... But if you're single you can look at whoever you want whenever you want.
5. The most common time for people to break up is between three and five months into their relationship.
This means that your roommate and the guy she met at that frat party on Halloween are getting dangerously close to their expiration date.
6. One in three men and one in five women cheat.
But if you're single, rest easy, because there's a good chance that you're not getting cheated on, unlike all those men and women in "happy relationships."
7. Your friends and family serve as a way to create social closeness between yourself and potential partners. In fact, half of all people in relationships are introduced by someone that they both know. So, your friends might actually be the reason you are single.
The solution to this? Find new friends ASAP who will hopefully play wingman/wingwoman better than your old friends did.
8. You don’t have anyone you’re even remotely interested in? Don’t fret. People can actually grow on you. Because of the “mere exposure effect” you can actually start to like someone more based on how often you are exposed to them.
That kinda nerdy guy that sits a couple of seats away from you in chemistry? Don't count him out just yet. Give him time.
9. You probably haven’t had a date in a while because you’re scared someone will turn you down. Reciprocity is a big deal when looking for a potential partner. If you’re scared that someone won’t reciprocate your feelings, you are much less likely to make a move.
So take the plunge. Ask that cute guy down the hall out. What is the worst that can happen? He'll say no and you'll be single? You're already there, so no difference.
10. Romeo and Juliet killed themselves killed over love, so it can’t be all that great anyway.
