Dating in high school can be incredibly difficult, as many are bound to find people who have qualities that can be categorized as red flags. Red flags are characteristics of someone that make them not desirable for dating. Students recognize that discovering red flags early on in a relationship is incredibly helpful in the process of choosing who to put your energy towards.

“I think red flags kind of give you a headstart view on how the relationship would look. If you can’t deal with the red flags before the relationship starts, it’s not smart to continue,” said Addison Lyons (‘26).

Some students such as Omandee Karunanayake (‘26) find it to be a red flag when someone does not show a level of passion for any hobbies or interests.

“Not having goals or ambitions is the worst thing that I’ve experienced. I don’t like people who don’t have hobbies or have bad grades, because it shows that they don’t have respect for themselves [and] can make you wonder if they could have respect for you,” said Karunanayake.

Cam Critchley (‘27) found the biggest red flag to be when a guy is talking to many different girls at the same time.

“This guy tried to talk to me and my best friend at the same time on Snapchat. We didn’t realize until we both talked about the pictures that he had sent us, and they were the same,” said Critchley.

While some things appear to be red flags to certain people, others disagree and have different perspectives on those characteristics.

“Some people think that having a girl best friend is a red flag, but I’m somebody who is a girl best friend and I know that that’s not like that,” Nika Manitius (‘27).

Others prefer that guys don’t give other girls too much attention.

“I don’t like when he follows a lot of girls on Instagram. The only person he should need to follow is me. I don’t know why he would need to see any other women on his screen, ever. There’s a difference between women following men and men following women because men don’t post thirst traps as women do,” said Etta Potthoff (’25). 

Though many different characteristics can be considered red flags, don’t be scared to put yourself out there! After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.