Four Ways Social Media Can Be Toxic To Your Relationship

Gianna Leto
October 27, 2015
Categories

It’s late on a Sunday night. You can’t sleep, there’s nothing on TV and you have no other form of entertainment. Like any normal person in this day and age, you whip out your phone and see what everyone else is up to. As you scroll through numerous photos of puppies and unintelligent rants about topics you don’t care about, your eyes finally land on the one post that will put a halt to your boredom.

It’s almost as if a beam of light shot down from the heavens and settled its angelic glow around this specific Facebook fight between a very unhappy couple. The next day, the office is buzzing with conversation as all the gossips give you a recap of the Internet brawl that happened the night before.

As amusing as these fights may be, there’s no doubt that posting all of your drama on social media is as toxic to a relationship as kryptonite is to Clark Kent. Here are the four other ways that social media is killing relationships all over the world.

  1. Instagram = Instant Issue

If you’re the jealous type, having a boyfriend or girlfriend like an Instagram picture posted by someone else is basically like having them cheat on you. It could be a photo of a landscape and it will still somehow create a problem. You’ll question all of the moments in your relationship leading up to now and wonder if it was all a lie. In reality, your significant other was just hungry and liked the way your newfound enemy’s cheeseburger caught the light.

This also works the opposite way around. If someone likes your significant other’s picture you’ll probably accuse them of seeing that person, question why they’re following each other in the first place and then proceed to block them on their account for no good reason.

Yes, I’m guilty of this but I got the help I needed and am progressing every day.

Some side effects of Instagram likes may include but are not limited to: trust issues, intense weeping and binge eating Ben & Jerry’s.

 

  1. Date Night… Or Lack Of.

Despite what most people say, chivalry is not dead, we just act like it is. As social beings, everyone wants other people to be polite and considerate toward them. But is a weekly Man Crush Monday (#MCM) or Woman Crush Wednesday (#WCW) actually considered a kind enough gesture toward your honey?

Cue in the Carrie Bradshaw voice over.

I got to thinking…they put up a picture of me on social media but still has never taken me out on a real date. Am I getting the respect I deserve?

Just because I get acknowledged on Twitter, is that enough to prove their feelings for me? I’ve watched a good deal of romantic comedies and not once have they performed any bold gestures: no flowers at the door, no love letters, no John Cusack with a boom box blaring outside my window. Is this relationship even worth it?

If you find yourself asking these questions, the answer is no. Ms. Bradshaw even said herself, “Some people are settling down, nbso online casino reviews some are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies.” WCW or MCM are definitely not the three little words (or letters) that should make your tummy do back-flips.

 

  1. Is This Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?

There’s nothing more annoying and confusing than when you see a couple bragging about how perfect they are together all over social media and then watching them fight in public worse than two lions over their next meal. People get so caught up in online appearances that most of the time the actual relationship no longer matters.

It’s no surprise that we, as humans, use social media as a means to compete with one another, but it’s when you let this fantasy life dictate your actual life that it becomes a problem. If couples stopped worrying about external forces and opinions and focused more on things going on internally, partnerships would have better chances of thriving.

 

 

  1. What is THAT Supposed to Mean!?

If you were keeping up with the Taylor Swift/Nicki Minaj beef on Twitter you fully understand how easy it is to misunderstand someone’s online tone of voice. Twitter is such an easy way to take someone’s opinion out of context or think someone’s passive aggressive favorite or retweet is about you. After a small argument it becomes almost second nature to log onto Twitter and express your feelings indirectly.

Yes, that song lyric was about you but I’ll deny it completely once you ask me about it.

The problem with this is that if your boyfriend or girlfriend comes across this tweet they’ll be under the impression that you’re talking about them behind their back and making them look bad instead of trying to move on from the prior disagreement.

If these four things are causing the downfall of your relationship, then maybe it’s time to reconsider your presence on social media and take a break from the digital realm. Go outside, take a walk, read a book and then when you come back, argue with your loved one about things that actually matter… like how they ate all the leftovers and deleted your recording of Say Yes to the Dress. *once again chucks remote at forehead*

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve said (or, um, “your friend”) has said about a significant other on social media? Give us the dirt in the comments!