Is Social Media Ruining Your Relationship?

Is Social Media, Such as Facebook or Instagram, Ruining Your Relationship?

How do you feel when your husband/boyfriend gets a half-naked photo of a sexy lady on Facebook, or your wife/girlfriend receives a photo of a man’s joy stick on Instagram? How angry are you to discover the social media misbehavior your significant other did while you were asleep last night? Anger is not the proper word, you feel betrayed, livid, the way Hillary felt when she lost to Trump. This not only applies to married couples, but also to any committed romantic relationships. Social media can be a great means of communication, but it is also a bottomless pit of temptation, which is so tempting that you may temporarily forget you’re in a relationship. Temptation often clouds your judgement and causes you to temporarily lose your mind.

How Other People’s Post Affects Your Relationship

Social media has wrecked many relationships today. However, I can’t blame social media directly. It is the people who disrespect boundaries that ruins relationships. People online don’t care about the status of your relationship. They don’t have to. After all, they don’t know you, and they couldn’t care less about your significant other. Therefore, they suck all your time and make that invitation to flirt seem all the more innocent. Seeing your relationship status as married doesn’t stop most people from pursuing you anyway.

How do you feel?

If you find your mate chatting it up with members of the opposite sex via social media on a regular basis, it may cause jealousy, insecurities, and feelings of betrayal. This behavior is very hurtful, disrespectful, and unacceptable. This can lead to some serious fights. Snooping into your mate’s social media account or their friends’ pages can be a full-time job. What if you find flirtatious messages, sexy photos, or incriminating evidence of their whereabouts on another friend’s wall? That can start a “World War III” in a relationship. In my opinion, Facebook or Instagram should be legal grounds for divorce.

People obsessed with checking their social media

What Can Be Done to Avoid Social Media Related Breakups?

Limit networking

Are you obsessed with social networking? Are you consistently checking your Facebook, Instagram, Texts and Twitter via your cell phone? Maybe you’re addicted to YouTube videos. There’s nothing more annoying than trying to have a conversation with your partner, while they’re checking their phone for the latest updates. By consistently responding to texts and other forms of media, you’re essentially saying your partner’s company isn’t interesting enough to hold your attention. That’s insulting and hurtful.

The Solution

The solution to this is to unplug sometimes. Put the devices down and spend some real quality time with your love. On The Couple Test, I discuss the importance of quality time and other key ingredients to help you and your honey bunch grow old together.

Protect your privacy

If you’re the type to overshare, you may be intruding on your mate’s privacy. But what if you’re sharing good things? Believe it or not, a lot of people still value their privacy. She may not want anyone to know she’s at Hooters with you. He may not want his friends to know he gave in to your movie pick, a mushy romance movie. Don’t share every tiny detail of what’s going on in your lives. If you consistently put your private business on social media, the chances of someone in the relationship getting fed-up are high.

Don’t Act a Fool

Don’t get me started on the Facebook arguments, when you act a fool with the world as your audience. If your partner initiates and actually enjoys Facebook arguments, sound the alarm! If he or she unfriends you, then declines your friend request on Facebook, or you stumble on inappropriate photos on Instagram, cut your losses and move on. He or she may be indulging in the attention, or may not be that into you.

Don’t Start a Fire

Being careless and irresponsible while using social media is like pouring gasoline on your relationship, then striking a match. For trust purposes, both partners should be included in social media activities. Relationships have boundaries for a reason. Make sure yours are set. Although there shouldn’t be any private passwords between you two, keep your relationship as private as possible. It can lead to a healthy, long lasting relationship. Play it cool, play it smart and keep social media in its proper place. Online is good but offline is better!