Situationship: Meaning, Signs, and How to Keep Value High

Don't you love this modern dating world where it's okay not to commit to anyone and treat everyone you date as just an option?

No?

Me neither.

The days of virtue and valuing family are over.

It's a jungle out there.

And now we have a new dating term to familiarize ourselves with every two weeks. One of these terms is situationship.

Table of Contents

Meaning of the situation

A situation is a relationship that is undefined and has no label.

Situations exist in that delicate zone between a committed relationship and something more than friends.

So if you see someone but have no idea who you really are, or tend to tell others it's "complicated" when they ask about the relationship, then you are probably in a situation.

Situation Vs. Dating

The difference between a situation and an encounter is:

When you date, you meet regularly with the mutual understanding that it has the potential to lead to a committed romantic relationship.

However, in one situation, you may act like you're a couple, but neither of you are sure if there's a future together.

Often you're also afraid to bring up the subject of a future or have the "relationship conversation" because a situation is such a superficial connection.

This superficial nature of things creates a very weak base, hence situations that often hang by a string.

Much like if you talk about becoming more committed to each other, your "person" might disappear or turn it upside down.

Essentially, the relationship is so weak that it is still in danger of being lost.

If this sounds somewhat stressful or toxic, that's because it is. (Or maybe).

Situationships Vs. Friends with advantages

They may sound similar, but the meaning of status versus the meaning of friends with benefits is very different.

In both of these relationships, you are having sex. That's the first thing to know.

However, the difference between situations and friends with benefits is that when you are friends with benefits, there are clear boundaries.

Namely, that you are friends who use each other for sex.

You can also offer each other companionship, but the clear limit in a friends-with-benefits relationship is this:

You're not going to commit to each other, and You're not romantic with each other

Basically, it's understood that you're both going to stay in each other's friend zone, but have sex.