PDA: What is too much?
Valentine’s Day. A beautiful day to be alive. If you’re in a relationship, it’s a special, romantic day to share with your significant other and express your love for one another. If you’re single, it’s a day to reminisce on your past failed relationships, desperately long for companionship, cuddle up with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and binge-watch your favorite Netflix series. But honestly, you’re going to be okay!
If you’re single and walk outside once in a while, you’ll see that we’re surrounded by love. It’s everywhere, especially at UConn. You see couples of different ages and genders holding hands, giggling, jumping up and down, loving life!
You turn the corner in the library and see a couple cuddling up on those 20-year-old blue couches, making out or watching a movie on one of their phones with their feet kicked up, thinking we walked into their bedroom. And then it’s immediately on you for disturbing their peace. To those couples: do us all a favor and just go home. For the sake of onlookers, let’s go through some of the moves of PDA (cuddle edition) that are okay.
The sitting upright with your partner putting their head on your shoulder just to close their eyes for a few seconds. This move is a 10/10 — very classy and loving.
Coming in at number two, the arm over the shoulder while sitting upright move. This is a 9/10. Usually, it doesn’t last for more than a few minutes before one of you begins to feel uncomfortable.
The most typical public display of affection is sharing a kiss with your special someone — or a gentleman named Chip you just met five minutes ago. In college, there tends to be a lot of this. If you walk into a college bar and do a complete 360 of the area, I promise you will find at least two people in the corner making out while “Mr. Brightside” plays in the background. This is just expected when you put 100 hormonal young adults in one place at the same time. Essentially, there’s nothing you can do. It also becomes too much when this act of passion is done right in front of the bar where people are trying to order drinks — then it becomes questionable.
PDA is used in spiteful ways as well. During adolescence, one of the most exciting things about going to school was the possibility of a romantic relationship. However, parents may become worried when their child’s relationship ends.
Getting out of a relationship as an adolescent is difficult because of the high chance you and the other person attend the same school or have the same friends. Seeing an ex regularly makes the process of moving on very difficult. Some may even go the route of easing the pain by engaging in attention-seeking PDA to hurt their former partner. And that can be incredibly painful.
Nonetheless, displaying your love in a respectful manner in public can be a beautiful thing. Just don’t overdo it for the sake of people around you. Give a hug. Kiss someone on the cheek. Hold hands. Keep your partner on the inside of the road so they don’t get hit by a car. But most of all, be kind.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Much love.
