Masuk Free Press

The talking stage is a crucial part of modern relationships. If you do not spend three-plus weeks without the label of a relationship, the relationship is destined to fail. Most of us teenagers think this way nowadays. 

What even is a talking stage? The talking stage is described by the website Glamour as “the gray area of dating where a romantic interest has been mutually expressed.” In my personal opinion, this is B.S. 

Our generation is too concerned with maintaining a nonchalant attitude that very few are confident enough to express their feelings. This leads to weeks (even months for the less fortunate) of back and forth talking with no commitments.

The talking stage is detrimental to the mental health of so many individuals because it allows teenagers to maintain romantic conversation with multiple people, no strings attached. If a significant other is not loyal during the talking stage, the other person is in no position to be upset, because there are no labels.

This enables people to form what is known as a roster; defined by Urban Dictionary as “a lineup of potential love interests.” Rosters and talking stages typically do not end up forming authentic bonds, in most cases they lead nowhere and are a waste of time.  

There is nothing worse than “talking” to someone, knowing they are also speaking to other people. Being in this situation causes individuals to develop non-genuine connections.  It is often argued that the talking stage helps ensure compatibility with the other party. 

“Talking stages are good because you don’t want a relationship to last a week. That’d be so embarrassing,” said sophomore Mary-Kate Boyle. 

However, in my opinion, you will not find true compatibility. 

When in a talking stage, the goal is to impress the other person enough to keep their eyes on you. Connections become increasingly fake because of the pressure of keeping up a persona worthy of gaining attention. 

The top two scariest things a teenager can hear today:

“I’m not looking for a relationship right now,” and “I think we should just be friends.”

Gen-Z is so afraid of rejection that we form almost fake identities in order to avoid this and keep the other entertained. It takes forever to actually get to know someone, often causing the talking stage to last months on end. 

That is the other reason why the talking stage should be dropped— the longevity of it. The million-dollar question was asked under a dating advice column on Quora: “How long should the talking stage last?”

Answers varied, but most users answered the same way.

“I think it should be 2 months, it’s important to get to know the person.”

“For me, with most guys it’s 3-4 months.” 

One user even went as far to say “Took about 8 years for me and my SO.” Eight years is a ridiculous amount of time without commitment and it is what most teenagers in this generation are heading towards.

The talking phase is simply an invention people have made to justify the delay of commitment and infidelity. In today’s day and age it will continue endlessly until someone decides to risk rejection, or get bored. 

The talking stage is detrimental to creating strong relationships and should be skipped entirely. If you have feelings for a person, skip the wait and tell them.