The problem isn't with the moderates but with the extremists in the relationship landscape. They give all the other couples a bad name. A kind of primeval tribalism takes over their psyches once they're in a relationship and all civility and education goes straight out the window.

Once these people get into relationships, they retreat into their couple caves and live insular lives, where no one else matters to them. They won't pick up calls, or even hang out with their old friends anymore, their entire lives revolve around their partner now.

Back when I was in college, all the kids who got into relationships in the very first year were the most obnoxious to be around otherwise; when they were not coupled. It's like they couldn't live without receiving the social validation of being in a relationship. Some of them didn't even have a personality outside the relationship. Being in a relationship was the physical equivalent of a downer they desperately needed to curb their testosterone fuelled tendencies. (else who knows what could have happened?)

Being single was akin to being socially naked for them. They made fun of singles, othered them, went on group outings where only couples were allowed, "protected" their women with a caveman mentality giving them undue preference where none was required, and formed various in-groups as they went along. We live in a society where 'coupled up' is a default state, and being caught single for too long after your last relationship was akin to catching a 3yr old with his hand in the cookie jar.

Nope! Can't be caught being my own person without anyone else to validate my existence in front of the whole college.