Fun to enjoy in the car, and even better with condiments (or condoms and mints), the comparable concepts of fast food and “friends with benefits” (F.W.B.) have become the new craze for young people. While not served in a paper sack, F.W.B. relationships are equally easy to obtain and even easier to devour, serving as an example for America’s desire for instant gratification. Many have learned that forming a diet consisting of fast food can negatively impact their health, but F.W.B. relationships, despite the undoubted negative consequences, have yet to be questioned. While “Fast Food Nation” placed fast food under fire, F.W.B. continues to be promoted in pop culture in such films as “No Strings Attached.”

With the ability to purchase the same chicken tenders at the Marquette Burger King as we are at the Beijing Burger King, the success of fast food springs from comfort, comparable to the origins of many F.W.B relations, in which the relaxed position of friends eventually extends to the bedroom.

Assessing the encounter at face value alone, the general population will readily gobble up Colonel Sanders’s Kentucky Fried Chicken, as well as the neighbor boy’s invitation to a make-out session, as long as it comes from a familiar face. Without questioning the source, many are surprised to find that a smiling old Colonel will feed them highly saturated meat and a reliable friend will give them mono.

People are beginning to have so little concern about what’s inside them that they are willing to forget who’s putting it there.

Upon earning America’s trust, fast food restaurants began to provide patrons with subpar food for many years. The supposedly trustworthy friends who fool around also have the capacity to deceive, as proper protection is often forgotten in a “secure” situation, allowing STIs to spread and unexpected pregnancies to occur.

Also, the simplicity of purchasing a full meal, complete with entrée, side and drink, is much more promising than cooking a meal by yourself. The same idea can be applied to F.W.B, as it requires less effort to secure hook-ups than it does to maintain an actual relationship.

Furthermore, in literature, breaking bread often symbolizes communion, an indicator of a powerful bond among a group of people. By consuming fast food, as opposed to a family meal at the table, the bond between family is lessened. Enjoying a F.W.B. relationship, as opposed to an actual relationship, prevents the formation of a bond as well.

With the consumption of fast food, as opposed to a multi-course dinner with the ones you love, not only does the bond weaken, but it also encourages people to pursue a fast-paced version in other aspects of life. By watching films instead of reading books, and having sex without a relationship, America continues to ask the question, “Why buy the cow, when you get the milk for free?”

Merely speculating, I see the long term effects of F.W.B to include an increased hesitancy to get married, a spike in sexually active teenagers, and of course, a drastic growth in STIs.

Whether it’s fast food or a fast screw, it’s simply easier to do what you know, whether that’s ordering from Taco Bell or getting your bell rung.

But is the fifteen-minute meal worth the gaining of unflattering weight, the health risks, and the undoubted time you’ll spend too sick to move in the bathroom? And is the ten minute long sex worth the potential for unplanned pregnancy, health risks, and the undoubted time you’ll spend single?