Unless you have been living under a rock, you are well aware of the hookup culture at College of Charleston.

CofC is not the only college campus being exposed to this accepted lifestyle. Nowadays, it seems as if hooking up can be defined as even less than casual. The other day, I was standing outside awaiting my Uber driver. Upon his arrival, a woman stopped me and asked if College of Charleston was an all-girls school. I laughed, and replied, “No. But it might as well be.”

Anyone that knows anything about the makeup of this campus knows that it is primarily girls with a significantly smaller male population.

On a day to day basis, this is not something that necessarily affects our routines. However, when it comes to relationships, I have witnessed on several occasions girls discussing a certain guy that they have been hanging out with and engaging in physical activities with just for the girl on the other end of the conversation to say that she has been with the same guy.

I am the farthest thing from being a love or relationship expert, but I cannot imagine being pleased to be either of those girls.

The sad truth is, we have started to normalize hooking up with someone and never speaking to them again. In fact, it has almost become encouraged.

Girls spend a countless amount of time and effort getting ready to go out for the evening, but for what?

A meaningless drunken make-out with a boy who does not even know your name?

A pathetic one night stand?

We see it all the time.

My friends and I will be out and one of them will lay eyes on a guy that they once had encounters with making out with another girl across the room. Often times, the guy has even told the girl several things to make her believe it was more than just physical.

These nights all end the same, with one of my friends in tears and the rest of us making our best attempt to comfort whoever it is that night.

Is it really worth it?

I get it, people get drunk and make mistakes. But, eventually repeated mistakes become choices.

I do not understand this phenomenon, but I am not the only one. Parents are dumbfounded. They ask us girls all the time, "Why do people your age not go on dates anymore?"

Unfortunately, I have no answer for them other than the fact that people these days invest more of themselves into physical pleasure than they do actually getting to know someone the right way.

Sure, people still "talk" and claim that they have feelings for one another. But when if you're "talking" to someone these days, you are lucky if you ever make it beyond hanging out without the presence of copious amounts of alcohol — liquid courage is everyone’s favorite.

It is devastating to see what this hookup culture is doing to the old-fashioned concept of love and being in love. We completely neglect the process of getting to know someone, letting each other be vulnerable, and accepting each other's quirks.

What has happened to us taking the time to do this, or putting in effort rather than just doing the bare minimum?

I would hate to sit back and watch as this pattern we seem to be stuck in follow us into adulthood, and I hope for all of our sake that it does not.

My hope is that sooner, rather than later, our generation is able to snap out of this rut of looking for worth in such trivial things and finally pursue something real.