I wouldn’t necessarily label myself as a hopeless romantic. There’s a lot more to life than to just want to fall in love, and I’m by no means waiting for my Prince Charming to come and save me. However, I think love is something extremely beautiful that we as humans are able to experience throughout our lives, and I don’t know what it is about us millennials, but I think we take love for granted, most of the time without even realizing it.

I’m not saying we should necessarily travel back in time to the 1950s, where people got courted while drinking milkshakes and were considered “going steady” after a few dates, but I think there’s something us millennials have forgotten in regards to romance in the 1950s — the act of actually really getting to know someone.

Nowadays, whether at a bar, party or even small get-together, it’s pretty hard to actually get to know someone that you meet. You try to start a conversation while yelling over loud music and drunk people singing "Stacy’s Mom." Yeah, it’s really romantic. And then once you feel as though you’ve talked for long enough, anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours, you may want to venture off and leave with that said person. "Hmm…sure, I kind of know you now, because we’ve talked for a few hours, so yeah let’s leave!" There’s honestly not a whole lot of logic behind this, as this person is practically a total stranger and could possibly be a murderer — this is highly unlikely, but I watch a lot of "Law & Order" — but at this point during the night, usually around last call, it doesn’t really matter to us millennials where they’re from or what their interests and hobbies are. I personally tend to just ask a shit-ton of questions, so I feel as though I do know a lot about them. Regardless, I think we should throw it back to the '50s and try to actually get to know someone, at least a little bit more than we tend to now.

Our generation is very into our technology. I’d go as far to say that I’m a bit obsessed with my phone and with what everyone is constantly doing. With our obsession with technology growing and faces usually glued to metal rectangles, a lot of social interactions that used to happen are no longer there. What if you were sitting next to the love of your life on the bus or in class, but because you were so absorbed with your phone you paid little to no attention to him or her — yes, this is a long shot, but stranger things have happened. We shouldn’t be so immersed in our technology that we lose sight of the world around us.

Also, what is up with the new trend of "Netflix and chill?" I honestly know very few people that actually enjoy watching Netflix with others. Yet us millennials have coined a new phrase and are now the Netflix and Chill generation. What happened to actually being taken on a date to the movies? I know we’re all broke college students, but they have discounts, and matinees are usually, like, $5

Also, when did blind dates turn into swiping right or left on an app? Oh yes, Tinder, basically the hook-up to the hook-ups. By looking at a few pictures and usually a cheesy bio, you are then messaged with a tacky, albeit a lot of the time, extremely creative pick-up line. Why would we find it necessary to put ourselves out there in person, if we can get what we want with a click of a button? The answer is that we don’t.

It’s sad that a lot of the aspects of love and romance that make love so beautiful are being lost and taken for granted by the generation of 20-something-year-olds. There’s nothing wrong with getting to know someone; it’s actually really cool when you do actually get to know somebody. I always look at it like this — every single person you know or meet knows you in a different way and knows different things about your story and your personality. So yeah, it’s really awesome to get to actually know someone.

Also, we need to get off our phones and start paying more attention to the crazy, beautiful world we’re surrounded by. We should stop taking the easy way out and using an app to find hook-ups/love, and instead put ourselves out there in person. In addition, no normal person genuinely enjoys watching an intense episode of their favorite show on Netflix with someone else. OK, maybe some people in long-term relationships, but the term "Netflix and chill" really has to go.

Basically, we millennials should just stop for a minute and go back to the basics of love. It’s such an extraordinary feeling that we get to experience and be surrounded by, and it is something we should stop taking for granted.