Lately, I have noticed a trend among millennials in the aspect of love it seems as though no one wants to have a heart. The trend of the present day is being "heartless." When did we become such a cold-hearted generation? When did love become such a terrible thing? Why do we push love aside, just to confidently say "I'm a heartless person" or "I don't have time for love"?
I, myself, a while back had fallen into this trap. I was always saying I have no feelings, I'm no longer letting anyone in. After a few heartbreaks, there was a time that I had sworn that I would never fall in love, or let anyone close enough to love me. But now I realize that is not a healthy way to live my life. But it seems as though as soon as I got off of the heartless train, everyone else in my generation decided to get on that train.
Instead of sitting and pondering in my thoughts of finding my knight in shining armor, I realized what better way to find an answer to this question than social media. So I did what I knew best and turned to Facebook to gain some insight on why people choose heartlessness when it comes to love. Many people were very thoughtful when it came to answering my simple question: "When did becoming heartless in love become such a popular thing?"
Some kept their responses short and sweet:
When reading this comment it made me sad. people are avoiding love because they fear rejection. But, in my sadness, I realized that I, myself, have fallen victim to these ideas, and many of my friends have fallen victim to this idea. It is not only millennials, but everyone fears rejection. But one must learn that in order to conquer a fear, they, in fact, have to face it. So looks like we all have to gain confidence and face the things that scare us the most.
Others blamed social media and society for these heartless outlooks.
These two comments are ones to ponder. Many people do not realize the effects that social media can have on the outlook of relationships. If a celebrity went on to say that "relationships ain't sh*t" a lot of people are seeing this across the nation and are feeding on these thoughts. Because these celebrities are so affluential, that if they put a negative connotation on an idea, like relationships, then people are no longer going to value them.
Back in the early 2000s repeatedly in the music world, we would see how having a solid relationship full of trust and love was the best thing that could happen to you. But as soon as that no longer became a topic of discussion in music, and we started to hear talk of the infamous line "F#$k B&%$#es, Get Money" ( though was a line from a song in the 90s) it ran rampant amongst the masses and people no longer wanted to say "all I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend/boyfriend".
But the most interesting of the two was Anna's comment. Using the idea of being heartless to survive hook up culture makes sense. It seems as though our current generation is completely against the idea of being with one individual. People are more willing to hook up with someone no strings attached then to get to know them on a more personal level. If you are anything like me I know you have learned to hate to hook up culture with a passion. though it is fun at first, but the thrill that it has to offer will eventually die. So continue to act heartless to survive, but eventually, someone has to break that barrier.
Many people have blamed our selfish nature as individuals:
While Alicia is not calling us selfish, the blame is following the same theme of we let the past dictate our future:
Which feeds into the selfish nature. We are afraid of getting hurt that we push others away. We are not thinking of others just ourselves.
Love is no longer popular anymore:
In a sense chivalry has died, mainly because it is no longer popular to be a kind person. We live in the times of just the "me, me, me" idea that we forget that the way to build is through the sense of "we, we, we."
So if you are like me, and wonder what are the reasons people have become so heartless I hope the insight from these various individuals helped you like they have helped me. But to end on a high note here is a comment from Amanda Prevosti, who is also a writer here at the Odyssey, who gives us a positive outlook on times of darkness.
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Place your positive energy in those who are willing to love, and do not be afraid to let your guard down. the outcome could be very refreshing. No love lost, no love found.
