How Is Social Media Changing Our Romantic Relationships?

Before the beginning of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many other social media sites, romantic relationships would advance behind closed doors. Today, it is much easier to identify at what stage a couple is in their relationship by just turning on your phone and opening up a social media app. Therefore, status updates, tagged picture posts, and tweets are ruining romance and relationships. Social media has ruined love because it is distracting to relationships, it takes away from face to face confrontation, and quite frankly social media is tearing couples apart.

Another thing that social media has done to modernize dating is with it’s contribution of couples with unrealistic dating standards. Men and women across the board are constantly being bombarded with posts of so-called perfect couples on their feed. It’s hard to dodge them in all honesty. Seeing these pictures, people are made to think that they need to be that awesome boyfriend, or to be that flawless girlfriend in the relationship. On the flipside of this issue, we’ve also been brainwashed to expect too much from the other, which can ultimately end up leaving us in utter disappointment.

Social media is described, by the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2015), as “forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos)”. As few as 10 years ago the term social media was yet to be coined, but within that decade the use of these blogs, websites and sharing platforms has increased exponentially with no plateau in sight. From creating Instagram accounts for household pets, to sharing Halloween themed baking ideas over Pinterest, people today have access to social media outlets for almost everything. Today about 74% of people ages 18-65 use some form of a social networking site (Pew, 2014). Facebook takes the lead in social media usage with about 71% of those adults. LinkedIn and Pinterest are tied for second at 28% of users, 26% use Instagram, and Twitter falls last in the top 5 most used social medias with 23% of users (Pew, 2014). In September of 2013 the Pew Research Center measured that 90% of adults ages 18-29 used these social media outlets on a daily basis, which is an astonishing increase from the 9% that was measured in February 2005 (Pew, 2014). Due to the fact that young adults are increasingly involving themselves in these online platforms, it is very important to understand the long term and psychological effects (such as depression, social anxiety,

Social networking and other social technology allows for interactions to occur between friends and family regardless of their location. While people remain social through communicating at a constant rate, the essence of face-to-face interactions is in part affected. In romantic relationships, open and honest communication with one’s partner is critical to the trust and development of the relationship. Young adults use social technology such as the Internet and mobile phones on a daily basis to maintain their relationships. Due to the miscommunication that often occurs from not a lack of face-to-face interactions, social technology shapes the way romantic relationships function. Therefore, social technology impacts romantic relationships

We are dictated by social media. It’s controlling. It’s possessive. Yet, we haven’t even paused to realize it because as teenagers we don’t know any differently. With teens as the subject of example, it is clear that social media has become a way of life. So now there is a debate. What exactly is it that social media does to us? Is the teenage generation the first product of a world run by social media? Most importantly, is this a positive or negative thing for us? There are many different things to consider. With all factors in mind, the biggest question of all comes to mind. Since it first emerged, what has social media truly changed about today’s teen generation?

Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to

In addition to affecting modern romances, social media also plays a large role in the modern friendship, because support on social media between friends is becoming just as important as real life support. According to Pea et al. (2012) the ease of maintaining a friendship through social media, while perceived as a positive, can actually have negative effects on a relationship as face-to-face communication is phased out in favor of interaction over social media. In social media, one can find a plethora of behaviors detrimental to friendships, such as gossip and other factors that incubate jealousy and suspicion (Fox and Anderegg 2014). Friendships that exist in the real world and on the web would theoretically be fortified as another dimension is added to the relationship, but the opposite is true as social media interaction does not strengthen the relationship as actual interaction would. The research of Pea et al.

One of the most common practices among adolescents and young adults is the use of social media. This can be attributed to the many benefits and positive emotions felt by a user. In 2014 there were more than 1.53 billion users of social media across the world (Curtis as cited in El-Badawy & Hashem). Moreover, in Australia, the use of social media by young people has significantly higher rates than many of their counterparts overseas (Green et al as cited in Salter, Crofts & Lee, 2014). Further, there has been a lot of deliberation about this use and whether it is actually beneficial to young people. This essay argues that social media poses a greater risk to the wellbeing of a young person and outweighs the benefits a young person may receive.

It is becoming more frequent in today’s society to utilize social media to connect and stay in touch with others. In fact, one could say that social media has become an everyday part of our lives. More than 800 million individuals use Facebook daily (Fox & Anderegg, 2014). It is therefore of great significance, that one gives awareness to how the frequency of social media usage can affect our romantic relationships. This study consists of analyzing the amount of time one spends on Facebook and if the amount of time has an effect on the relationship satisfaction. Previous studies have gone over the aspects of the activities and concepts among individuals that can cause negative relationship outcomes but these studies have not extended beyond the concept of frequency. Moreover, previous research has suggested that individuals’ attachment status, individuals who have Facebook–related conflict, individuals who were in shorter term relationships, and individuals who have certain ideas of what normal behavior is when getting to know someone on the website can end up predicting negative relationship outcomes (Clayton, Nagurney, & Smith, 2013).

There are many controversies within our nation’s society; one of the main topics is social media. Many argue that it is “bad” because it causes issues and is unhealthy; where others argue that it is “good” because it allows people to connect with each other and “stay in the loop.” However, any way you slice it social media greatly impacts teen relationships. In more ways than one, it has a negative effect on tween and teen “romantic” relationships. Three ways, that social media have negatively impacted tween and teen “romantic” relationships, are because of his or her willingness to give out and up private information, allowing his or her partner to have too much control, and portray that everything is always perfect.

Social media is incorporated in our everyday lives. It is used mostly to stay connected with friends, family and the media world in general, but sometimes, it is used in different ways in such it can have an effect on relationships. The issue about social media and relationships is that it can cause a lot of issues such as disloyalty, trust issues, etc. It is much easier to cheat on your partner nowadays as it is easy to simply erase all kinds of evidence social apps. An important concept to keep in mind however is that the contributing factors have changed over the years, and that is why it needs to be researched every few years or

Social networking sites enable us to share our experiences with friends and family through status updates, pictures, and public posts on friends' profiles . They also have the potential to be either beneficial or detrimental to our romantic relationships, depending on how we utilize them (Tokunaga, 2016) . According to one study, partner attachment is strongly associated with both relationship quality and relationship stability (Schade, Sandberg, Bean, Busby, & Coyne, 2013). However, studies have also shown that high levels of attachment anxiety are associated with online partner surveillance (Reed & Tolman, 2016, 2015 ). Monitoring the internet activity of a

The use of social media sites has increased with this generation of teens and young adults. These sites have become even more accessible to people now more than ever with the use of smartphones and tablets. Most social media is made with good intentions, from reuniting with old friends or keeping up with distant relatives. But as the saying goes, too much of a good thing can be bad for a person. Social media has opened up many beneficial avenues and opportunities for this generation to enjoy that weren’t there before, such as staying connected with friends or raising awareness for social causes like the ALS ice bucket challenge. As much as social media can benefit us, though, the misuse of it can have a negative impact on different aspects of someone’s life, including health, social interactions, and employment.

Several studies have found that using social networking sites excessively, including partner surveillance and monitoring, posting ambiguous information, and compulsive internet use, can be detrimental to romantic relationships (Ridgway & Clayton, 2016). Social networking sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, negatively influence our relationships. It is important to know the common conflicts and how to avoid them. It is also important to realize how influential social networking sites affect our relationships daily. In the following paragraphs, I am going to talk about conflicts in relationships that are caused by Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Can you imagine living in a world with no social media or smartphone? No instagram, twitter, facebook or snapchat? Believe it or not, that world existed before us millennials did. According to an article found on the Pew Research Center.com, entitled “The Demographics of Social Media Users”, the amount of Facebook users is “72% of adult internet users [and] 62% of entire adult population.” Facebook along with other media outlets have easily become the norm for young adults and older adults in today’s society. The rapid growth of accessibility to social media networking was made possible from the creation and use of smart phones. The combination of social media sites and smart phone users has single handedly eliminated the need for human interactions, but also has provided a repertoire of information at our fingertips. I will discuss the following: the history of Facebook and its impact, the creation of the iPhone and its development of social media apps like Instagram, and the effects of cyberbullying. The purpose of this essay is to explore the productive qualities and destructive qualities that various social media outlets have presented to our generation.