Teens Love Love, but Not Valentine’s Day

Oh, Valentine’s Day — it’s the worst day of the year or the best, it all depends on your relationship status. Or at least that’s how it used to be. But now younger people and Valentine’s Day don’t blend as well as they used to, in large part because very few teens care about the day dedicated to love.

The holiday that involves flowers, chocolates or that overly expensive bracelet for the partner who truly desires something from the heart seems to have gone out of fashion.

If you talk to teens about their thoughts on love and this holiday that celebrates it, you’ll learn that the next generation of lovers may put this candy company hoax of a holiday out of business.

Rosalind Nilsson,19, is in a relationship and thinks Valentine’s Day isn’t even about the love anymore. “I feel like Valentine’s Day is over commercialized and people are made to focus on spending and buying for their significant other rather than actually appreciating their significant other,” she said. While some may argue that the day is imperative for showing your loved ones you care, Nilsson thinks otherwise. “You should appreciate your significant other and loved ones in general, more often than just on Valentine’s Day.”

Valentine’s Day always has had its fair share of critics, the majority of whom are single, which has prompted card companies to offer humorous Valentine’s Day cards for the lonely hearts out there. Sayings on cards include “Happy singles awareness day” and “Relationship status: Waiting for a miracle.”

Isabella Caban,18, is one of those single people who, while believing that showing affection to your loved ones is important, has a negative view of Valentine’s Day. “I just don’t think it’s necessary. Always show your friends, family, significant other or anyone who means something to you affection and love — not just on one day, but always,” Caban says.

There are very few ways to make a holiday centered around love work for everyone. The idea of Valentine’s Day and celebrating love sounds nice, but when you add in the materialistic expectations from partners, leaving out those who haven’t found that special someone yet, and the loss of weight in your wallet, those nice feelings for the holiday can fade. 

The good old days of making construction paper hearts at school while classmates passed around homemade festive treats have gone away. Now, teens feel that Valentine’s Day is just another day, only with more profit for big businesses and upscale restaurants.