Opinion

Now that spring is here, and “cuffing” season is over, it's time to build your roster. Romance is out, recruiting season is in. Why settle for one meaningful connection when you can conduct a full-scale scouting operation for your so-called “perfect match?” Take off your sweats and pull out your phone. It is time to consult the New York Times guide to modern dating terms and start “drafting.”

Thanks to social media’s ever-expanding dictionary of chaotic dating terminology, teens are now “building rosters,” using Snapchat like it’s a professional drafting platform, carefully evaluating multiple candidates at once. Nothing says true love like a selection process that resembles fantasy football.

Is It Really Casual?

“Keeping it casual” has become the default relationship status, meaning all the benefits of dating with none of the responsibility. Dates have become “overrated,” as people will talk for months at a time over the phone, label it as a “talking stage,” and never even make it to an official first date. One St. Andrew’s senior says most of his friends meet people through Snapchat’s “quick add,” which honestly makes dating sound less like romance and more like scrolling through a Spotify playlist and hoping you hit shuffle on the best song.

Bare minimum things like saying please and thank you, actually texting back, or spending a little quality time together are now apparently “princess treatment.” At this rate, if you open a car door, you automatically get promoted to “passenger princess,” complete with a tiara and a throne in the backseat. 

Stereotypes

The classic “black cat girlfriend” and “golden retriever boyfriend” combo has become the unofficial handbook for looks and personality. According to the media, the guy is always blonde, tanned, hyper-enthusiastic, and ready for anything, while the girl has darker features, a chill confidence, and an air of mystery. Of course, in reality, this match is about as common as a four-leaf clover, but that doesn’t matter as long as people keep their Instagram aesthetic. 

In an experiment in New York, reporter Adeja Shivonne went out and asked adults on the street their opinions on Gen Z’s beloved, stereotypical phrases. With the data being published in an article on Fox News, Shivonne concluded, “For some, these terms highlight how careful Gen Z is about commitment, creating labels for every stage, or escape route, in relationships. ‘It’s like they’re afraid to live,’ one New Yorker joked, noting how many terms are built around keeping options open.” 

Cuffing Season

Winter has become the season of love: “Cuffing season.” A senior at St Andrew’s claims it is because “People date around these times because it's the season of giving presents,” because dating someone means you will be getting everything on your Christmas list.

According to writer Hasina Jeelani from Vogue India, going into high school teenagers assume the dating lifestyle would be different, and upon arriving onto campus their lives would morph into a 90’s rom com, where they would finally find their one true love. In reality, once their fantasy bubble popped, students realized dating is less about a sweeping romance and more about having a placeholder to text when you’re bored. Situationships and talking stages having been coined as both “complicated” and “fun,”  by students in the St. Andrew’s senior class, however, in the words of one SAS senior, “This generation's definition of love is definitely more informal than how it was in the past.”

You may have found yourself scrolling on Instagram feeling as though you need the newest skincare trend, whether it's a $400 LED red light mask or snail mucin moisturizer. Even if you want to stop at face wash and moisturizer, the multi billion dollar skincare industry won't let you. It constantly reminds us of issues we didn't think needed fixing, pores that need closing, pimples that need popping, and wrinkles that need to be erased. Skincare brands encourage children as young as 10 years old to start their healthy skin journey. The skincare industry has a way of making us feel like everything has the chance to save our skin. Maybe just one more face mask and my dryness will be gone. Or maybe that eye cream will finally make my puffy under eyes disappear. But when do we cross the line where we are solving problems we don't even have? 

This concept shows up most prevalently among the “Sephora's Tweens,” a term used to describe girls ages 10-14 who engage in skincare trends that are designed for older women. But it's really not the children's fault. These products are accompanied by bright, shiny, and colorful packaging that seems geared towards an audience much younger than intended. Take, for example, the iconic Drunk Elephant skincare brand which gained its popularity on Tik Tok for its famous “skin smoothies” or “skin potions.” The brand encourages its users to combine numerous Drunk Elephant skincare products to make the perfect mix of ingredients to aid in skin health. But the ingredients inside the “skin smoothies” can be harmful for their younger demographic. Products include ingredients such as peptides which help with collagen production, retinol aimed for anti-aging, and vitamin d for anti-inflammatory benefits, most of which are unnecessary for young and developing skin. The brand has faced serious backlash with users criticizing their marketing. In response to numerous lawsuits and complaints, the brand launched their “Please Enjoy Responsibly campaign” in an attempt to reframe who their audience truly is. 

This is only one of many debates regarding whether young girls should be focusing on problems associated with women typically ages 25+. When asking high school seniors their opinions on the infamous Sephora tweens, a consistent trend showed up. Katherine Stone states, “Just be a kid. When I was a kid I wasn't doing all of that.” Sophia Kleberg emphasizes how “Kids that young don't need to be worried about their skin that much.” She shares how her own sister (age 13) is obsessed with Sephora, purchasing products from brands including Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe. Grace Anderso, states how “a lot of it has to do with the brands. They market their retinol to younger teens with their bright and colorful packaging.” Brands including Glow Recipe utilize bright, pink, and fruit-themed packaging that is highly intriguing to those too young to be using their product.

  I interviewed numerous high school seniors in an attempt to better understand how marketing on Tik Tok and Instagram influences them. Multiple students reported seeing consistent ads for the red light LED mask which claims to treat wrinkles and acne scars while simultaneously boosting collagen production leading to healthier, younger looking skin. Sophia Kleberg said “I saw it everywhere and really wanted to get it” revealing how constant exposure can generate desire and spark a “need” for the product. Grace Anderson shares, "I've also seen salmon sperm, it's all over my Tik Tok. It tightens skin and apparently it's really good for you.”  With strange products of this caliber we see a tagline claiming that “this product saved me” or “this is a must-have to fix x.”

The need to fix problems we don't have not only impacts tweens. It persists as new skincare trends and fads show up on our social media. Weekly, new products are being pushed in viewers' faces, attempting to convince them that "they need this.” By targeting minute insecurities, the marketing pushes women to believe these problems are real and prevalent. So next time you find yourself scrolling through social media, and the newest product stops you in your tracks, remember to ask yourself: is this a real problem that needs fixing or a solution searching for a problem?