New Love Languages Exist, And Millennials Have Them Down

Nowadays, nothing says "I love you" quite like a meme or GIF.

If you're not familiar with Dr Gary Chapman and his relationship self-help book on Love Languages, it was one of relationship expert's most popular titles, topping various bestseller charts for years, selling upwards of seven million copies and landing on the #1 spot of the New York Times best-seller list.

Published in 1995, it discussed how different people have different ways of expressing their love and how that can cause issues in relationships when there was a disconnect in such methods.

Back then Dr Chapman broke the 5 Love Languages into the following categories: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch.

If you'd like to find out about you or your partner's Love Language, there's an online quiz you can take here.

Millennial Love Languages

The relationship expert has now revisited his theories for the Millennial era and spent years studying 20-30 somethings in order to adapt and update his famed five languages of affection and love.

According to Dr Chapman, if you identify which of the below love languages the significant millennial in your life best identifies with, you can have a real, flourishing relationship with them: (we advise reading these with a healthy pinch of Himalayan salt!)

Words of affirmation, for literally anything

Millennials whose love language is words of affirmation for literally anything are best-loved when you compliment them on a job well done, or a job partially done, or a job not done at all.

Quality protest time

Some millennials only know that you care when you spend lots of quality time protesting things they disagree with, even if they’ll move on, forget about the issue entirely, and protest something different the following week. Try inviting them to a sit-in, walkout, or violent riot, and they’ll feel loved and cherished.

Receiving gifts such as truckloads of avocado toast

Gifts are an important part of any relationship, and millennial relationships are no exception. Ship them a truckload of organic, locally grown, cage-free avocado toast, and millennials attuned to this love language will be deeply moved.

Acts of liking, sharing, and commenting on their selfies

Lots of millennials will know you love them when you perform loving acts of service, like interacting with their social media posts. They've spent several hours getting ready for that selfie shoot, so when you like it on Instagram and comment with the flames emoji, it tells them you appreciate all the care that went into that pic.

No physical touch whatsoever, please just message them

While previous generations responded positively to physical touch, many millennials’ love language is for you to not ever touch, call, or visit them, but rather, message them instead. When they receive a GIF from you instead of an unannounced visit, they’ll know that you took the time to understand their love language. They’ll be absolutely touched—just not, like, actually touched. That's gross!