“Get a room!”

What do you do when you see two people all over each other or making out in the hallways? Do you walk away? Stare? Barf a little in your mouth?

I know I do.

PDA is gross, and it is not something that people should do in school because we are here to learn, not to see our friends (or even that weird couple in math class) groping each other desperately in the three minutes before the next class starts.

One of the most common social annoyances in high school is PDA, also known as Public Displays of Affection. It seems that everywhere we walk is infested with twitterpated teens.

The moment we step on school grounds it begins: couples are holding hands, making out, and it is not even 7:30 yet. As I walk into school I am not welcomed with a hello, but instead I am greeted by the sight of two strangers locking lips up against my locker.

I can think of better ways to start the day.

“That is disgusting, and I sure wish kids would keep their hands to themselves,”  said Mr. Zechmann, P.E. teacher. “PDA should not stand for Public Display of Affection; it should stand for please-don’t-anger-Mr. Zechmann-by-touching-each-other-in-the-halls.”

Teachers are always seen as the bad guys – having to yell at the students to stop touching each other, when in reality they are doing a deed of good for the rest of us.

“Please stop – it’s awkward,” freshman Kayla Kirmaier said, probably speaking the mind of many other classmates. “Kissing as a hello or goodbye, I think, is more than fine; but when you find a place to sit down and make out for thirty minutes to an hour, then I feel that is overdoing it.”  

Is there room for a very small amount of PDA, or is none at all “more than fine” too?

Teacher and coach, Mr. Hazzard, thinks that “PDA shouldn’t affect people unless it’s bothering others.” He said, “There comes a point in which it is too much and you should stop.”

“PDA is honestly kind of gross,” senior, Will Tonelli said. “There is no need, a goodbye peck is okay.” There are some actions that should not be done in public and there are some that should. Senior Erik Greenlee agrees with his classmate: “We should have stricter rules on PDA in our school because I swear, if I see one more couple canoodling in the entrance in the 900 hallway I’m going to freak.”

The next time you shut out the world, gazing into your man or woman’s eyes by the locker-side, take a brief moment to make sure you are not grossing people out or potentially impeding others and making them genuinely uncomfortable. Many of your peers can be, at times, both of those – all because some love-lust classmates cannot wait until there is an appropriate time and space.