Illustration by Sana Amin/The Gazelle

We buy a lot of stuff.

We buy stuff that we don’t need, we buy stuff that we will use only once or twice, we buy stuff that we don’t really want to buy and do so anyway because it’s there. We’re always in need of new stuff, and we want it now.

The rise of this consumerist behaviour has devoured and industrialized almost every aspect of our life, including love. Dating apps like Tinder allow us to pick future partners as if we were picking a new pair of shoes online. Our dating habits are beginning to look a lot like our spending habits.

At NYU Abu Dhabi, consumerism is taken to a whole new level. We use our leftover Meal Swipes on boxes of food and drink that we don’t need, we buy tickets to exotic locations in the blink of an eye, and we refuse to drink anything but bottled water.

The other day I was booking my ticket for Spring Break and thought back to a high school trip to Europe. I spent two years arduously working part-time at a cafe to save up enough money to go. Now, with my magical stipend card, I can go on these amazing trips without having to work for it. In fact, I used to think long and hard before departing with my hard-earned cash to buy something as small as a chocolate bar, whereas now I don’t even give it a second thought.

I believe that these sort of privileges have influenced the dating scene here at NYUAD. Romantic interactions are quick-paced and intense. We generally don’t want to wait, and we don’t want to invest too much time or effort into them.

We’re also constantly moving. Time spent abroad during J-Terms, winter breaks, summers and semesters has made us wary of commitment. It makes us more inclined to invest in ourselves rather than others since we are uncertain whether or not other people will physically be with us in a few months’ time.

This manifests itself in an overarching inclination towards short-term relationships, friends with benefits and blurred lines. While many of my friends back home are in long-term relationships — with some getting married — I know of only a handful of serious relationships at NYUAD.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? No. However, it can and has in many cases led to uncertainty, loneliness and depression. There is something deeply fulfilling about long-term relationships that cannot be attained in strings of empty hookups.

If you aren’t happy with the romantic life that you’re living, change it. You don’t have to engage in the hookup culture if you don’t want to, and you can have serious relationships if you want to. Break free from the constraints of the consumerism-fueled norms at NYUAD.