Valentine’s day, the holiday that will bring companies more than 19.6 billion dollars all over the United States. The holiday that will stress men out to the max and give women a chance to dress up and demand a date night. All over the world there are many different opinions about valentine’s day and the way that people spend the 14th. Millennials and Gen Z’s have recently been the main focus of the valentine’s day dilemma, deciding whether they were going to ditch the holiday for fun with friends or take their significant other out on a special date night, they have been in the spotlight. How has this generation been affected by this changing tide of Valentine’s Day and how has our society today affected the way that people decide how they want to celebrate.

According to a survey done by EduBirdie, after surveying 2,000 Gen Zers, more than half of them said they would rather be doing “anything else” than celebrating Valentine’s Day. Some will hang out and party with their friends, have a “gal”entines day, or one of the more common methods of having “fun” on a day like Valentine’s Day is the “hook-up.” It is not uncommon for adults between the ages of 18-24 to act outside of the social norms and decide they want to do something different on a day that has been around for almost 1500 years.

As far as millennials go, in a little survey done by Ki Guillen, who polled 50 males and 50 females that were classified as millennials. Over half of those polled were single and were not expecting to receive anything for Valentine’s Day. However, just like the Gen Zers the single millennials are using this day as an excuse to celebrate the other relationships in their lives.

After talking to a couple of my friends, including Evan who is a millennial and my friend Jess who is a Gen Zer, their opinions were pretty different. Evan said “I love Valentine’s Day! It’s one of my favorite days. A lot of people say ‘ugh! I hate it. You should love whoever you’re with everyday,’” Evan went to say,“Rather than it being the day TO love, I find it a fun day to celebrate that love. Almost like an official reminder of the love that two people share. A day to bring attention to love.” Jess on the other hand said that she is “indifferent about it, but I use it as an excuse that we have to go out. Since we’re so busy the rest of the time it is the perfect excuse to have a date night.”

Overall, I don’t believe the holiday is officially dead. While young people are deciding to take an unusual approach to the day, they are still choosing to celebrate different relationships in their lives. Whether that be a romantic relationship, friendship, or your family, make someone else feel loved. If you are a millennial or a Gen Z, feeling like someone cares about you, or caring about someone else is all that matters. Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!