Seven billion people live on this planet, and teens are crying over their most recent break up, or worse, a break up that happened months ago. I can think of one thousand more important things to cry about in high school.

The hallways overflow with couples making out against lockers who would usually be told to get a room, but most high schoolers don’t even have their license or a car to get to each other’s houses, let alone rooms.

Too many times the three most meaningful words “I love you” get thrown around after three days of “being in a relationship.” Making it “Facebook official” after knowing each other for two weeks and only texting is not a relationship. Jumping into a relationship causes it to be unhealthy from the start. Go on dates. Get to know each other. It’s so easy to lie over text and make someone believe they’re someone they’re not; so hang out with them in person before accidentally falling for the person you thought they were.

On Google, love is described as an intense feeling of deep affection. How do you know if that intense feeling is a romantic or sexual feeling? And how do you know the difference between loving them as a friend and more than a friend? Teens’ raging hormones make it almost impossible for a relationship to exist as they mistake sensual thoughts for affection.

If everyone was forced to marry and stay with the first person they said “I love you” to, think about how big of a predicament you would be in right now. Now you look back and laugh at how immature you were for crying over someone you dated for a month or less.

Boys and girls are almost always on their best behavior at the beginning of a relationship trying to get the other person to like them. This is why the first month appears so great, and the last few not so great.

Often you hear people say “I’m gonna be single forever” after a breakup as they retell their same sob story about becoming an old cat lady. May I just remind you, you haven’t even gone to college yet.

Good news, according to ihigh.com, around ten percent of high school sweethearts get married and about half of them divorce, leaving only five percent of high school sweethearts remaining. The younger couples are when they get married the higher the chance of divorcing. Those who wait until they are 25 have a 78 percent chance of staying together. If a couple truly loves one another, it shouldn’t be hard to wait until after college when both partners are in a good position and ready to get married.

All this being said, it’s not wrong to date in high school, just don’t take it so seriously. Obviously break ups hurt, but it happens to everyone. And you will never learn any lessons if nothing goes wrong.

According to LoveAtFirstSight.com, relationships put one person with another to help each other to adapt and grow. Whether it’s a horrible relationship leaving couples crying every night or a healthy relationship that just doesn’t work out, you should leave the relationship with some sort of new knowledge. So think of each relationship as a learning experience and take what you learn into consideration the next time you’re interested in someone.