I got my inspiration for this article from another that was previously posted. Take a look at it here. As many people do on this website, I’m sharing my opinion on this topic and how it differs from the author of the original article.

Now Lindsey may not be offended by the overuse of “I love you” but I am. I am not saying her opinion is wrong, mine is just different than hers. Growing up, I was always under the impression that the people you always told “I love you” to were your family or the people that were closest to you. To the point where I always thought I could never in a million years tell my friends I loved them. I always had believed that you had to pick and choose things you absolutely loved, I would specifically choose one thing to say I loved because I felt as if the term “I love this” was the highest authority of enjoyment for anything. I remember the things I used to say I loved at a young age, High School Musical, Vanessa Hudgens, Softball and my cat, otherwise I just liked people, and liked different music. I was not in love with those items, I just was highly fascinated by them. I even went as far to tell people if they meant more than a normal friend that I appreciate them greatly, as opposed to saying I loved them.

Here in college, you always say I love you to your parents when you are getting off the phone, you say I love you when you see a friend in the middle of campus, and you say you love something when you have a strong liking towards it, even if you know the fascination will not last all that long. Sometimes even if you do not know someone really well, you end up telling them “ILY” after they comment something nice on their photo. But do you really love them? No, probably not, you do not even know them, you just like what they said. At what point did this phrase become such a used and emotionless phrase?

Yes, as there may be a broad difference between “I love you” and “I’m in love with you”, I just think the phase has become a phrase of convenience. If people are saying it half-heartedly then why say it at all?

As times change so do meanings of words, so it makes sense that a phrase that was once really hard to say can become so generalized to the point where you can get strangers involved.

“I don’t believe that saying “I love you” needs to be taken in a romantic way. Saying that phrase can simply be a declaration to someone you care about that means, “I am here for you” and “I care” - Lindsey

I disagree with Lindsey once more when it comes to her opinion of the phrase itself. If you are there for someone and care about someone, you should just come out and say “I am here for you and I care about you”. I think the biggest misconception about the phrase is of the deepness of the statement. Say your guy friend who you secretly have a crush on tells you “I love you”. You will jump for joy, you will be so happy, until the day comes along where you realize he only meant “I am here for you and I care about what is going on in your life” not “You’re precious, I want to be with you”. I think the overuse of “I love you” is just a way for people to be lazy and not have to say what they really mean when it comes to how they feel towards another person, it leads to confusion most of the time. So instead of saying “I love you” to literally everyone, tell your friends openly “I care about you, I am here for you and I will always be there for you” because at the end of the day, it means a lot more than the guessing game of “I love you”.