Social media can be a very useful thing in today’s times, but sometimes social media can cause many problems in your relationship.
Love is probably one of the fundamental, definitive human things there is: the ability to fall in love romantically, not just for the sake of procreation per se is something humans don’t really share with any other animal. Needless to say, it is one of the most enduring tropes of literature and the arts.
From swooning over Mr. Darcy, while reading Pride and Prejudice to crying with Rose over the death of Jack Dawson while watching Titanic (1998) are things we are all guilty of.
Love and relationships are things that never seem out of the conversations and form an integral part of our social understanding and activity.
Like everything, the representations of love and the way it is treated as a discourse have changed too. Technology has affected it as much as the next thing.
Relationships were never easy, to begin with: To have another human being, with opinions, choices, and lifestyles more than often different than that of your own in a space of personal comfort can be something daunting. But to quote the famous Woody Allen, “We do it for the eggs.”
Now technology has changed (like I was saying before) the way we look at old things. Even relationships.
Of course, when talking about something as personal, it is highly subjective and problematic and while technology has made communication far easier it has kind of sucked the romance right out of things.
Break ups are more common and unrequited love is celebrated through social media posts.
Social media itself has made things public; the world is your voyeur, sitting and waiting to hear about your relationships, and the phrase “swooping in” has been heard too when a couple is broken up.
Here Are Some Of The Effects Of Social Media Has On Someone’s Relationship
1) Forgetting the Journey Undertaken Together.
Trust is like a castle of cards. Once broken it can lead to destructive thoughts.
And it is not just that; thanks to social media and the easy access to so many options of companionship nowadays, people tend to forget the journey they undertook with the one already in their lives.
A relationship is like a building, the foundation being the key. As soon as that is forgetting everything is bound to crash.
Related: 5 Red Flags To Watch Out For On Your Partner’s Social Media
2) Lying, Cheating and Finding Outlets Elsewhere.
Give a bad person an excuse, and they will use it. It is a way of life. Where communication can lighten up the situation in every relationship, that same thing can give ill-intentioned people the out they look for, to cheat and lie.
People start liking the online veneer so much that they lose sight of the loved ones they have in real life which is really the most pathetic thing that can happen to you.
Moreover, dating apps that are not really even subtle anymore, advertising your STD checks, makes cheating really easy. In a world where “the eggs” are the things difficult to work for, such cheap thrills are often chosen as outlets.
3) The looming spectre of the “ex”.
Thanks to the fact that communicating with someone is easy thanks to a large number of social media apps like WhatsApp, Viber, etc, people make mistakes they probably don’t want to.
There will be instances when one of the partners will converse socially with their ex and the other partner “has to be okay with it. It’s just messages, you know”. This is not something pleasant and the fact that it’s a daily occurrence doesn’t make it any less bitter.
Moreover, alcohol also makes things worse. It’s a sad world where “drunk texting” is a thing.
4) The Constant Surveillance And the Paranoia.
The fact that you can see when your partner was “last seen (online)” can drive you nuts and rid you of sleep.
Especially if he/she has cheated on you before. Trust broken is everything shattered because it is trusted after all on which a successful relationship is built.
And yes, time might or might not heal things, but the fact that such information is just a click of a button away can kill sleep and faith in romance itself.
5) Jealousy.
Everything that is public, and transparent can have an exacerbating effect on relationships. Seeing a picture of your partner with someone else can lead to a million stray thoughts and assumptions.
Also, social media offers a plethora of distractions: for example, richer couples posting about their dates to expensive restaurants.
These are the things that make people insecure and jealous instead of being glad about what they do have. Moreover, in the quest to maintain a “cool” social image, things tend to get sour way more easily than you think.
For example, Numerous check-ins with numerous friends while bailing on chances to meet your partner because “I am busy, maybe next week” can be some of the most painful experiences one can endure. And if your partner doesn’t realize this is hurtful, then “Run Forrest run!”
Related: Why Frequent Social Media Sharing by Couples Indicates Lack of Depth In Relationships
The Pros
Well again, like anything else really, even social media can have a positive effect on some relationships. Actually, it all depends on one’s intentions.
Like, users have been known to have their moods uplifted by a simple text message they received from their partners early in the morning.
If your relationship is strong and you are strong people individually, social media won’t be able to get in the way that much, it all depends on how much you love each other in the end, and what are your priorities in life.
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