This Is How We Do Valentine’s Day Now
Small displays of appreciation and kindness online are what it’s all about.
Valentine’s Day can be a polarizing holiday. If you have a date or are in a relationship, then it is a day of celebration and happiness, full of candy and roses and ~love~. But if you don’t, the 14th can make you feel lonely and sad, and you may spend it lamenting all of the happy couples around you and the blatant commercialization of it all — of the teddy bears and fancy dinners and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate.
But this year, maybe things are a little different? Recognizing that this is a tough time for everyone (if that even bears repeating at this point), people are making the effort to be extra kind and festive this year. Regardless of your relationship situation, you can celebrate and cherish Valentine’s Day.
On social media, primarily Instagram, people will share cute and funny photos and memes. These can take the form of more traditional “cards” but are often just simple messages of love and appreciation. People share these by DM’ing them to their friends, tagging people, or even putting them on their story for all of their followers to see. It’s a brief, yet memorable, expression of love and kindness, and doesn’t have to be a display of romantic love, but also simple friendship, appreciation…
