MANILA, Philippines - To paraphrase Rihanna, we have three more days ’til Tuesday, the 14th of February — Valentine’s Day. An iconic, never-miss holiday for many has grown to become optional for disenfranchised “I have something better to do” types, especially those in modern relationships. When the term “Modern Relationships” comes up, you can guarantee to raise a few eyebrows. Listicles and articles always say that modern relationships fall apart quickly, don’t mean anything, or are just plain abominations of the institution. But, it’s not all doom and gloom for modern love. I would actually suggest that it’s the complete opposite — because of the wide array of options available in our beloved modern world, there are more chances of winning (and losing, but let’s not get into that). Here are a few choice pairings that have come to light in the age of modern dating.
A LOVE SUPREME
The couple #goals for the Yeezy-loving High Snobiety set. These lovebirds are mainstays on your Instagram explore page for their unmatched street style, Sneaker beauty shots, and looking hella cute in their complementary (take note: not matching) Vetements or Gosha. You see these couples out at a club arm-dancing to hip-hop so new it’s not even available on Spotify. Their charm lies in them just being totally into each other — they can swap clothes because it looks good on either of them. They may or may not also finish each other’s sentences when it comes to the newest drops. These couples don’t often display affection publicly, except for a few choice heart emojis here and there. They’re also probably the type of couples who’ll say something super-sweet on social media and ask, “Where’s the cheese emoji?” to not cramp their style. Luckily, iOS heeded the call and provided them the cheese emoji they deserve.
NO, THEY DON’T SPEAK FRENCH, BUT THEIR LANGUAGE IS ROMANCE
These couples are the winners of the yearly social media essay-writing contest for any occasion where they can profess their love publicly. Think of them as the traditional couple who’ve gone digital. Like the French, their specialty is cheese — and lots of it. They tag each other on cute Facebook videos with the simple captions of “Look!” Sickening to most, I actually find these kinds of couples very cute and unpretentious with such a traditionally refreshing way of falling in love with utmost abandon. You can trust that by the end of Valentine’s Day, any of your friends who fall into this category will have a Facebook album of their picturesque Valentine’s dinner at Blackbird, Lusso or Vask. If they haven’t already, one of the go-to moves for these couples is a bed peppered with rose petals with a bouquet and card combo laid on a bed with much overthought.
THE SUPER POWER-COUPLE
They’re both in their late 20s or just about to hit 30. These are the types of couples where you can find one congratulating the other for getting into grad school at one of the Ivies. They lovingly share Mic articles with each other while trading the most cerebral inside jokes. You see their Instagram stories where they are shopping for kale or large home and office plants at the Sunday markets or picking out cheap bottles of wine that remind them of their times slumming it in college or business school. Their mornings are filled with coffee, cold brew or otherwise. At nights, they frequently go on dates in the newest and most acclaimed restaurants. They may even spend the night cooking recipes from Phaidon-published cookbooks. But don’t expect foodstagrams from this lot. It’ll be a nice photo with a witty caption featuring an enviable tablescape with a stolen shot of their SO holding a glass of wine or a bottle of craft beer.
THROW AWAY THE DYMO, BECAUSE THEY DON’T NEED LABELS
Just like how most everyone knows that fast-food apple pie is made of sayote, everyone knows that these couples have been together for as long as they can remember. They’re not Facebook or IG official but they do pop up on each other’s feeds every now and then, ever so casually. To the untrained eye, people will think that these people are just super close friends when they see them out, but lo and behold — a relationship lurks behind the scenes. The nature of their relationship will only be disclosed upon closer prodding but sometimes, out of the blue, they profess their relationships on social media, albeit four years too late.
THE IG LOVE STORY
The most modern of them all, these IG love stories are relationships that you’ve seen develop on social media. You would have chanced upon these two people casually liking each others’ posts or dropping cryptic comments on random posts five weeks deep into the feed. After some time and some real world interaction — you see them posting photos of each other with groups until each additional person in the photo vanishes like an eliminated top model contestant to reveal the new couple that came together. Now all their photos are them, flexing their couplehood for the gram, “with this one”-ing every other photo that they post. Sure, the majority of their dates are spent with both of them glued to their phones but don’t be mistaken, their online activity is spent telling people about their time together.