How does love, fear, jealousy, hatred, bad communication, self-consciousness and a healthy dose of pressure sound to you? If you’re a teenager looking to date, that’s what you’re in for. Teenage dating is dangerous. Your brains are underdeveloped, you have very little communication skills and you are altogether selfish. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault. Teenagers are under the impression that they’re supposed to meet someone, fall in love and marry them, all when they’re 16. This, my dear, confused readers, is not the case. I realize the things I say may sound harsh, but do you honestly believe that you and your beau are going to be “together forever?” Let me be the first to break it to you: you won’t. According to a study done by the University of Florida, the average teenage relationship lasts less than five months. That’s five months that you will care nothing about and will most likely not remember for the rest of your life. Let’s get one thing straight: what you’re feeling is hormones, not love. Hormones are the little chemicals inside your body telling you to completely forget everything else in the world and focus all of your energy on one guy or girl. Teenagers have a hard enough time focusing—they don’t need any more distractions. How many times have you seen a girl crying in class over a relationship and have to be excused to go see a counselor? How often have you tried doing homework, but were continually distracted by your crush’s texts? You have enough problems trying to get through school as it is; you don’t need the added pressure of a relationship taking up precious brain space. Do you really want to have to choose between plans with the boyfriend or girlfriend or studying for a test? You shouldn’t have to. Focus and hormones aren’t the only things teenage lovebirds have to worry about. Living in the technology age is supposed to make communication easier, but for some, it is quite the opposite. If you started your relationship over a text message, it’s probably not real. If you can’t talk about your problems face to face or you have to send cryptic text messages to figure each other out, it’s probably not real. If you can’t talk about your personal issues with that person face to face because it is uncomfortable, or if you have to send out annoying tweets or Facebook statuses about them, then you probably aren’t mature enough to be in a “relationship.” You learned to talk as a toddler, so why is it so difficult for you to do it now? A teenage relationship is nothing more than a ticking time bomb. Both of you are just waiting for the other to mess up so that you can angrily subtweet them and tell all your friends about your “broken heart.” When the break-up happens and the bomb explodes, you are left with nothing but a giant mess. Both of you feel more vulnerable than you ever thought you could. Neither of you want to go to school for fear of seeing the person that caused you so much hurt not to mention you are unable to focus on anything but them. Teenagers are immature. I am; we all are. It’s difficult for us to see past the pesky hormones. So please, don’t waste your time trying to find the perfect “relationship.” You’re just making more problems for yourself and the world around you.