Your 20's are like the last frontier of exploration before you're categorically an adult. Until you're 90 and start sharting in your pants, your 20's are the last time in your life that you can make huge mistakes and chalk it up to being inexperienced, and act like a douche king without feeling like a sad adult baby. So are they really the time to be shacking up?

Your 20's are like the last frontier of exploration before you're categorically an adult. Until you're 90 and start sharting in your pants, your 20's are the last time in your life that you can make huge mistakes and chalk it up to being inexperienced, and act like a douche king without feeling like a sad adult baby. So are they really the time to be shacking up? Shouldn't you be out, peeing in fountains with 10 of your closest friends that you just met, and fucking everything that looks at you funny?

Don't look at us, we're not doctors. But we did make a pros and cons list so we can figure this one out together, baby.

Pro: A constant supply of sex.

Con: You spend less time masturbating to shit that's too weird to tell your partner about.

Pro: You spend less time masturbating to shit that's too weird to tell your partner about.

Con: You can't just walk around, fucking people all willy-nilly like in your whoring days.

Pro: You don't have to worry about catching any new STDs, unless your partner is a cheating bastard.

Con: Your partner could be a cheating bastard.

Pro: If you get your heart broken, you've got your entire life ahead of you. You'll return to the "single and loving it" flock, and you'll fill your days with rebound sex until you find someone new who you can stand to talk to sober. If you were older and broken-hearted, you might not have as many options as you do in your 20's.

Con: You always have to consider someone else's interests when you do shit.

Pro: That's just priming you to be a responsible, grown-ass person. Ain't no shame in thinking about other people; you'll need that skill your whole life. As long as the other person in your relationship is as considerate of you, you're in a good place.

Con: Sometimes, you end up conforming to the other person's habits and interests, and lose sight of your independence.

Pro: When you're feeling antisocial, you always have someone to stay in with, drinking boxed wine and watching horrible TV shows about dragons, without feeling the asphyxiating grasp of FOMO.

Con: You spend more time with your partner than your friends.

Pro: You can't fuck your friends.

Con: You fight about shit. One of you gets jealous. The other collects mysterious piles of clothing and trash around the house as if closets and trash cans never existed and you're not sure if you should call the producers of Hoarders just to prove a point.

Pro: Someone cares about you enough to a) be honest with you about how they feel, and, b) try to make you not a hoarder, and, c) fight with you at all. If they didn't care for you, they wouldn't waste the energy getting into it. Double pro: makeup sex.

Con: You should be focusing on your career and various life goals you set for yourself at summer camp in 2006 instead of on your relationship.

Pro: You have someone to support you when you try to achieve your goals. It's nice to have someone that believes in you, who you can also have sex with.

Con: The sex can become routine after a while. There's only so much missionary-to-doggy-to-cum-on-tits sex you can have.

Pro: Getting into a rut forces you to think outside the box and try new things you didn't even know you liked until five seconds ago when your partner put a paper bag over their head. You can get down with that …

Con: You have to deal with their dumbass family and "college friends."

Pro: They sometimes have to buy you dinner, which is awesome because you're 23 and work at Chili's to pay off your student debt. The struggle is real.

Con: The thrill of the chase is gone.

Pro: Security. Seh-cuur-it-taay. And you don't have to stop chasing each other just because you're Facebook official. Always try. Never wear sweatpants.

Con: You have to see your partner in the morning when you're hungover and vomiting and vodka-shitting. They're always around, even when you don't want them to be.

Pro: This isn't 1930; there's much less pressure to get married today than there's ever been, so being in a serious relationship doesn't necessarily mean it's headed for inevitable matrimony.

Con: Your 95-year-old grandpa will still tell you he's hanging on, day after day, despite his debilitating pneumonia and deteriorating neural function, so that he can live to see you get married, making you wonder if you should just to give the man some peace. No pressure though!

This little list has taught us something about serious relationships in your 20's: every pro has a con if you look at it a certain way, and vice versa. It's not about how many pros or cons there are, its about how you fit them into your little life thing and make them work for you.

So if you're in a relationship and you're happy, we say it doesn't matter what age you are. If you're getting what you need and your partner's not holding you back, go for it. Sure, you give up some of the wildness and experimentation that your 20's offer, but if you're with the person you love, you can be wild and experimental together. Good relationships aren't about possession or restriction; they're about loving each other for who you are, even if who are is a weird, weird individual who can't sleep without "Purple Rain" by Prince playing in the background.

When you're with someone who loves you as much as you love them, and doesn't vomit at the sight of your naked flesh, you're not giving anything up. It becomes less about asking yourself whether you should be doing it, and more about just enjoying it because it's enjoyable and they're good at sex and do endearingly bizarre things when they sleep.

That being said, if you're unhappy in your shitty relationship, there's no better time than your 20's to not be in a shitty relationship. If you're not getting what you need, you're giving up a lot of things that your 20's offer you, like the ability to fuck whoever walks in the door next, the ability to not care about anyone but yourself, and a whole shitload of friendship and career opportunities that your caustic relationship might get in the way of. Never else in your life will it be socially acceptable to walk around with a cavalier, "I don't give a fuck" attitude, make mistakes and be easily forgiven for them "because you're young," and be content with your current lack of career ambition.

We say if you're unhappy, dump the human dildo that is your partner, and get out all your kinks when you can. And if you're happy, get your kinks out with the person you love. Neither option is better or worse than the other.

So should you be in a serious relationship? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe you should close this window and get back to watching porn, big girl/guy.