Effects of social media relationships

Introduction

Social media has impacted on the 21^stcentury’s communication. There has been advancement in the way people engage in various aspects of their lives. The social media has transformed the median and modes for shopping, networking and gathering of information in less than a decade. Many people have been drawn into the use of the social media, thus, there is an increase in information traffic in the internet. For instance, facebook has close to one billion users, twitter having around 150 million people twitting everyday among other blogs. Through the social media, people get to interact across the globe hence creating a lot of impact on the relationships. Facebook incidentally has 50 percent of the 8oo million users log in on a daily basis, and each having approximately one hundred and thirty friends. The trend in communication in today’s society has become computer meditated and people cannot imagine life without twitter, facebook, smart phones or other social media. This trend has advanced the level of communication hence setting a shift in the mode of interaction between families, friends and lovers from the early ways to a digital bases system. This shift has caused both positive and negative impacts in relationships and fuelled the ability of making relationships between individuals. (Gallo, 2011)

Break ups in relationships

With the increase in the use of social sites lie Twitter and Facebook in our interactions on a daily basis, there is a question as to whether the use of such sites is responsible for the twists and turns in relationships. The sites are indeed responsible for the falling out of various relationships as a result of behaviors that are inappropriate that are acquired from using the sites. However, there is still a question as to whether the sites are to blame for this or whether we as the users should be held accountable and be responsible with or behaviors. The truth is that there are emergence of more brake ups in relationships with the increase of communication among peers and friends via the social sites. A lot of studies have pointed to the fact that the social media is responsible for a number of break ups in marriages and relationships. This is basically because most people spend most of their time in social media conversing with individuals of the opposite sex. This does lead to lack of trust and creation of jealousy among people in relationships thereby causing a fall out between them.

Facebook and relationships

Wood, (2011) states that Facebook specifically has been harmful in a lot of relationships. This is because through it there has been a lot of suspicion and jealousy among those in relationships. Facebook and other social networks make starting of relationships a very easy thing. People can interact and start affairs easily from the comfort of their couches and agree to start relationships. However, the same Facebook also ends relationships very easily as various research has indicated that Facebok is responsible for lot breakups.

There are comments and postings especially to the opposite sex that do cause a lot of jealousy and lack of trust at first glance. These posting that are done to opposite sex individuals are the causes of havoc in relationships that are sometimes experiencing other problems. Through social media, there is an increase in the opportunity to meet people on the other side of the world who you could not have met in real life. This has increased the levels of cheating in relationships. People have developed bad behavior in their relationships. However, it is important to note that the social networks do not force people to engage in acts that they do not want to engage in and therefore the responsibility lies squarely on us who are using the sites. This means that people have to be accountable for all that they do in the social media and do not blame the social media for their cheating. Through the social media, people have been engaging in unfaithfulness. Having Facebook and Twitter accounts have definitely has a lot of impacts in relationships; impacts that are more often than not mounting to a lot of conflicts. (Al-Deen & Hendricks, 2011)

Starting relationships

Apart from affecting existing relationships, the social sites also increase the ability of people to start romantic affairs. Actually nearly one third of the population using the social sites agrees to the fact that it is possible to start a romantic relationship through the social sites. This eventually points to the fact that Facebook communications and can grow from the status of more than just a friend request to a serious affair. This is usually geared if the individual in question has flashy profiles to his picture like for example, being a C.E.O or other fancies responsibilities. For those who are single or not ties to relationships, this is a pro on their side. This is because through the social sites, opportunities for dating are opened up and they have a variety of people to engage with in open dating before settling down in a serious and committed affair. However, this is prone to cause problems to those who are already in commitment relationships as it makes them prone to unfaithfulness. It has been referred to as putting the kid in a store of candy and instructing the kid not to taste the candy itself. Committed relationships are always faced with lack of trust and jealousy in the event that social media is used by either party.

Misinterpretation

People spend a lot of their time chatting and communicating in Facebook. This activity causes a lot of stir especially when it involves people of the opposite sex and the mate does not know about it or even does not know them. The mates do feel insecure and lose the trust they had in their mate simply because of involvement in Facebook. There have been arguments concerning whether mates should be privy to the friends that their fellows engage in. this has a lot of curses as well as blessings in our relationships. It could be good but also bad in a larger extent. This is because as humans, we have the tendency of analyzing things a lot and in details that nay be misrepresented. This can lead to making conclusions based on assumptions hence creating a lot of mistrust and jealousy in relationships unnecessarily. In this case, one would be better off not monitoring or having any idea as concerning the online friends and communication that his or her mate has through the various social networks.
Through Facebook and Twitter, there is a lot of flirting between individuals of the opposite sex, which could be disastrous to ones relationship. These are the same problems that would be experienced in the event that these things are done in the real world aside from the social networks. In this case, it is considered that one person’s unfaithfulness should not be tagged or attributed to the use of social media because the same would have happened in the usual world outside Facebook or Twitter. It is therefore concluded that one’s behavior in social network is the same one went out of the social network.

Misinterpreting the posts in social networks is also a cause for rocking relationships. For instance, a guy can post in a girls wall that he longs for meeting her that particular night. The boyfriend of the lady may see the post and feel jealous maybe because he may interpret the post to mean that his girlfriend has been having another affair with the guy who posted in her wall. In this case, social media is responsible for the breakups in relationships. Other private conversations in social media have ended up causing problems in the relationships. Trust is most often than not lost in the relationships. (Bryfonski, 2011)

Conclusion

Some may argue that Facebook, Twitter and other social sites are not to blame for the problems experienced in relationships but one thing is clear; they contribute towards mistrust, jealousy and cheating. All these contribute to the ending of a lot of relationships. This is especially because most of the posts made by individuals and those made on the walls of individuals are seen by the other partner. Also, one cannot control and has less control over what other are to post in the walls therefore there is always a risk of having something suspicious being posted in ones wall that may be responsible for ending the relationships.

References

Al-Deen, H, Hendricks, J. (2011). Social Media: Usage and Impact. UK: Lexington Books.

Bryfonski, D. (2011). The Global Impact of Social Media. Greenhaven Press.

Gallo, C. (2011). The Effects of the Internet on Social Relationships: Therapeutic Considerations. Bloomington: IUniverse. 

Wood, J. (2011). Communication in Our Lives. NY: Cengage Learning.