Public display of affection, or PDA, immediately makes me think, “get a room.” Why flaunt an intimate moment in a public space and make everybody widely uncomfortable just for a little lip-locking?

Everywhere I go, I cannot escape the confounding amount of PDA around campus that I see daily, which makes me want to crawl into a hole.

Last week while on the bus, minding my own business, I saw a couple on public transit. At first, it was just some innocent handholding which soon turned into a full-on make-out session within the blink of an eye. One was sitting on the other’s lap, making out, on public transit at 7 p.m.

I immediately felt uncomfortable and bothered by this very public display of affection. I couldn’t understand why this couple chose a very busy and very public bus line to share a private moment — anywhere but the bus, would have been a better choice.

Despite my immense irritation towards this couple, I couldn’t help wondering why I was so bothered by this. Perhaps it was my feelings of annoyance and jealousy, as I am not in a committed relationship and cannot partake in any form of affection towards a significant other.

I don’t mind seeing individuals or couples hugging or giving a quick kiss in public. I do mind witnessing a full-on make-out session or the holding of hands that are swinging back and forth which could be found in some Disney fantasy dreamland.

Just because I was on the bus didn’t mean I had to look at this very intimate and unnecessary lip-locking.

As I was scrolling through my phone, trying to look anywhere else but the couple who were in the throes of making out, I lifted my head to see what other people on the bus thought of this display. To my delight, they looked equally or more horrified as I did.

My question to the couples that participate in this type of PDA is, why do you feel the need to be so intimate in public places? Are you not feeling vulnerable or embarrassed? Or are the people around you absorbing all that embarrassment for you? What are you ultimately trying to prove by doing this?

Although I do not believe all forms of PDA are too much, I believe that there is a line that people walk between PDA being cute and being irritating. I think if you are participating in PDA, you should be aware of the people and surroundings around you as well as socially acceptable boundaries that you should probably not cross.

No matter where you are, you can’t escape the influence of public displays of affection. Stylist magazine says it’s impossible to escape PDAs. Whether it’s in your daily life or on the internet, you are constantly being introduced to news about these displays of affection.

From Pete Davidson’s relationship with Kim Kardashian on social media and in news articles to Oliva Wilde and Harry Styles’s PDAs, we simply cannot escape the bombardment of couples making out anywhere in our lives.

The real questions are, why do some people hate PDA with a burning passion and why are others okay with it?

Grace McMahon, a life coach interviewed by Stylist, said “a lot of our reaction to a PDA comes down to the way we were raised. If our parents displayed affection in the home while we were growing up, it becomes quite normal to us, and the way they viewed PDA depicts the way we view and judge it as we get older.”

Perhaps the reason I hate PDA boils down to the fact that affection was not common among my parents and especially was rare within my family. We often quietly spent time together as a family. My parents chose to keep hugs few and far between one another, but opted to spend quality time with one another, which was their form of love language.

Despite upbringing playing a major role in how we view public displays of affection, the discomfort is widespread enough and has reached a critical point within the arts department that the Arts Student Body Council (ASBC) has banned PDA within the arts lounge on campus.

I hope this article makes you aware that the people participating in PDA should be aware of the individuals around them and their surroundings. I also hope you agree that there is a time and place for PDA which should never be public transportation.