She smiles across the room, and he smiles back; he makes a joke and she gives a girly giggle with a hair flip. Every day, in classrooms across the nation, teens everywhere engage in their favorite activity: flirting.

Among teens, flirting is a common means of communication. Recently, a campus poll was taken in order to gauge flirting frequency and techniques, in an effort to understand this most mystical form of communication.

Questions were asked regarding common flirtation methods and time spent flirting in an average week.

Out of 282 campus students, 181 responded to the poll; the most common methods of flirting were smiling (118) and laughing (112). Forty-nine students said that all of their friends flirt, but 14 students said that none of their friends flirt.

For some teens, flirting just comes naturally and is not given a second thought.
“When I flirt I don’t even mean to,” Ryan Brun, ’08, said. “When I’m with someone I like, I just start talking, and I guess it turns into flirting.”

While the techniques of flirting come easily for some, others struggle to find ways to express their feelings.

“When I’m with someone I like, I usually start getting nervous when I’m around them,” a sophomore, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “I start babbling and end up feeling really stupid afterwards.”

Some may wonder about the right time to start flirting and turn to their friends for advice.

“If I have a friend who likes someone, I usually try to encourage them by telling them it’s okay to flirt,” Ashley Hall, ’08, said.

The art of flirting just might be a mystery in itself, but for giggling girls and cute boys, the tradition is sure to continue for generations to come.