Has our generation forgotten how to love? This is a question I ponder regularly.

To me it seems that we are the generation who has given up on love. We now live in a society where having a “side chick” is the norm, and making someone your “man crush Monday” or “women crush Wednesday” is seen as a romantic gesture.

Even the word dating has lost its meaning. Now we call it “talking.”

Because of this, most people in our generation have never had a clear understanding of what a good relationship should be.

Today’s society has made it so normalized to be with more than one person at a time, which is why I think it’s so difficult for us to be in a committed relationship with just one person.

A contributing factor to the demise of relationships in our generation is definitely social media. Because of social media, we’ve built a culture dependent upon knowing what each other are doing at every second of the day, which isn’t healthy.

When our grandparents were dating they couldn’t check each other’s Snapchat story to see what they were doing throughout their day, and they turned out fine. So why do we need to?

What most people in our generation don’t understand is that being so in tuned with one another every minute of the day isn’t natural.

If your significant other hasn’t texted you back right away or likes someone else’s picture on Instagram, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re being unfaithful. But we jump to conclusions – which ultimately creates trust issues that damages the relationship.

I have to admit that I too am guilty of abusing social media when it comes to significant others, which is what I believe has damaged potentially good relationships for me in the past. It’s just hard living in a world where knowing every detail of someone’s life is at the tip of your fingers. Sometimes I feel like no one should have that power.

Love is confusing. It has layers and changes over time with each new partner we let into our lives. Love is so unbelievably complex that most people just haven’t been able to get a grasp of it.

And that’s fine. At 23, I’m still trying to figure out what love is.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but it does make me worry if true love is realistic in my future.

So has our generation forgotten how to love? Or are we still just trying to figure it out?

That’s a question I’m unable to answer, but I do know this; if we don’t come to understand love better — its purpose, its limitations and its weaknesses — we will never be truly happy.