Say what you want about the Millennial generation, we know we have our faults. Adults love to roll their eyes and complain about how we're spoiled 'snowflakes' who are too sensitive for our own good.

I happen to believe our generation is head-strong and driven. We are also arguably more understanding and accepting then generations past. However, there is one aspect of life we have undoubtedly, completely, and entirely lost all sight of romance.

Our generation is the creator and the practicians of the infamous hook-up culture. Hook-up culture is basically just having all the fun of romance and relationships without the feelings and the commitment. It is giving you and your body to people you have absolutely no intention of reconnecting with again in the future.

Half the time these hookups are initiated while completely intoxicated and are rarely remembered by either party the next morning. Our generation is basically the first to participate in a 'romance' of this kind, so where did we go so terribly wrong?

The prevalence of hook-up culture is not our only issue when it comes to romance. Our inability to commit is shockingly non-existent. We're constantly on the search for the next best thing. Many people of our generation don't know how to be happy with whats in front of them because they always assume that they can obtain something greater.

Here's the thing: there is always going to be somebody more attractive, more intelligent, funnier, sexier, etc., than your current partner. Love and romance are not supposed to be about those exterior and surface qualities. It's about so much more beyond that. It's about the deep personal connection you cultivate with your partner that is unlike that of any other.

But our generation is too concerned with constantly progressing to the next greatest thing that we "ghost" those who actually could make an impact in our lives.

Bottom line: we don't know how to settle like the generations before us. I'm not saying you should settle for just anyone. That's not the point. The point is we have to stop believing that the grass is greener on the other side and appreciate what we already have.

If you have someone who makes even your darkest days feel a little lighter than who cares who else is out there? Those others are not for you to have. You don't need to experience everyone to know that you've found the one.

For those of us who are tired of constantly being left behind for someone 'greater', there develops another colossal issue: we commit to blindly.

If I had a dollar for every time I overheard a girl say something along the lines of "If i'm not married by 25, shoot me.", I would have enough money to pay off my out-of-state tuition for the next three years. Our generation has gotten so used to being passed along and forgotten about by every romantic partner we've had that we actually feel pressured to commit to just about anyone who will offer us that commitment.

It seems that most of us who are tired of the hook-up culture and have grown past the "next-best-thing" phase are too eager to commit. We're so afraid that if we pass up the first opportunity presented, that one will never present itself again.

This is why so many young men and women are silently accepting their partner's infidelities, their emotional/physical abuse, their aloofness. We settle for average or less than because we're too afraid to risk waiting for what we deserve. The "next-best-thing" phase has so altered our way of thinking and wanting that we completely change our idea of what we believe we deserve.

So say what you want about our generation, we know we're not perfect. But it's not our 'entitlement' or 'spoiled' attitudes that scare me. Its our dismorphed view of romance and relationships that is truly frightening to me. So wake up, millennials. It's time we put hook-up culture to a rest, appreciated the person we had in front of us, and demand the love that we deserve.