The causes and effects of social media on relationships and communication

The Effects of Social Media on Relationships and Communication

Introduction

Without a shadow of a doubt, social media has tremendously improved human communication and interaction regardless of the physical location. It has helped bridge people with a similar interest in social life together and turned strangers into long term friendships and relationships. It has also allowed people to keep up with their friends and partners without necessarily sharing the photos and memories directly with them. Social media has resulted from the ever-evolving advancement in technology, which has been at the forefront in making the world a global village. With social media, people can interact with each other promptly and in real time. But with the benefits that social media accrue come with its fair share of cons. Social media has been used as a platform for evil and certain people in society to spew hate on other people. As much as people may be strangers on these platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, their feelings are invested in them and can easily be hurt. Therefore, this essay will look at how social media has affected relationships and communication among its users, both negatively and positively.

Positive effects of Social Media on Relationships and Communication

As previously mentioned, social media has played a major role in building relationships and turning strangers into lifetime partners. The following are some of the positive effects that social media has had on relationships and communication. For a start, social media has been a platform for single people to interact with each other (Rees, 2018). Many single people have transitioned from the traditional blind dates and forged marriages to taking charge of their situation and indulging in social media. As of 2017, a survey conducted identified that 39% of couples reported that they had met their partner on online platforms (Rees, 2018). The most active social media platform has been Tinder, which has tremendously replaced the role of family and friends in helping people look for partners. In addition, the LGTQ society has greatly used these platforms to its advantage. As the union is slowly gaining momentum in worldly recognition, the situation has not always been easy for them. Constant discrimination and harassment have been a major hindering factor for them while looking for partners. Luckily, with the help of Tinder and other platforms, the community has found it easier to find dates and even friendships. According to a survey conducted on 1000 people who are part of the community, 80% confessed to the apps being a major factor in the foundation of their relationships. It has also helped them in being freer and expressive of their sexuality. Many of them have met their partners and gotten married as a result of social media.

Social media has also impacted relationships positively by creating platforms that offer relationship advice from experts (Rees, 2018). Different partners in the relationship may bring to the table their own emotional trauma and dark past that definitely impact the relationship. Relationships may also have, as it is on many occasions, cases of constant disagreements. This may necessitate the need for a professional help to help mediate the disagreement. With most relationships specialists being expensive, this means that a high number of people in a relationship cannot seek professional help to help protect their relationship from crumbling down. Fortunately, there are thousands of articles on online platforms and websites that offer professional help and advice for free. Some even go a step further and upload their toll number that one might use to speak directly to professionals trained at giving relationship advice. Such guides and advice help improve the relationships of conflicting partners. They can get quality guide and advice and how they can implement them in their relationships to work better and regain the lost chemistry.

Social media has invented creative ways of keeping a close connection between partners and friends (Rees, 2018). Couples can interact with each other while in different geographical locations in several ways. Social media allows one to send ‘memes’ (a funny image, video or text) to their partners to keep the good spirits lifted throughout the day. Friends and couples can also take pictures and send them to one another while on their expeditions. This gives the other partner a feeling of inclusion, and they get to share the moment even when they are apart from each other. Connection is an important element in any relationship. It is a constant that acts as the foundation for the relationship. When the connection and communication are lost between friends and couples, the chemistry that existed before slowly disappears. In the Cyberpsychology, behaviour, and social networking journal, a survey conducted that most young couples in long-distance relationships are better off maintaining the chemistry and rhythm between them by connecting via social media.

The power of social media is always triggered by the underlying urge to gain public approval. As this may be an unhealthy factor for the basis of any relationship, many people, from celebrities to the ordinary person, are constantly seeking the ‘public approval’ it is an unspoken approval and thirst that is only quenched by publicly posting images, videos and other moments in social media platforms. Whether we agree with this perception or not, it is a perception that seems to work and make couples happy. What even makes them happier is the number of likes their images get or views their videos incur. Therefore, another advantage of social media on relationships is that it acts as a time capsule for memories (Rees, 2018). Social media has been transformed into an institutionalized way for couples to publicly expressing their feelings for the world to see. By inviting the community support and people to share in their memories, the connection between the partners continues to grow stronger.

Negative effects of Social Media on relationships and communication

As much as social media has created a foundation for relationships and friendships to thrive through maintaining communication, it has also created problems. Such problems have led to relationships crumbling and partners drifting into different wavelengths of their connection (Arikewuyo et al., 2020). The first negative effect of social media is that it creates unrealistic expectations for couples. This is perhaps the major effect of social media on relationships. With the craze surrounding social media, every user in a relationship expects theirs to match what they see on social media. According to Arikewuyo et al. (2020), social media might possess resourceful information for couples to use. Still, the images and perceptions created mostly create unrealistic images and portray what a relationship entails. Such images and videos of couples are normally filtered, edited and most of the times scripted. Couples may set out to look like what they see on social media, say, for instance, their physical representation. After joining the gym and eating healthy for some time, the end product may not be as expected and seen on the platforms, therefore leading to disappointments. The feeling of self-disappointment, in turn, affects the relationship on the ground and the couples eventually engaged in disagreements and conclude that they do not eventually think that they belong together. It is, therefore, necessary for couples to learn how to differentiate reality from fantasy and know their goals and limits with minimal outside influence and interference.

According to Chukwuere & Chukwuere (2017), Social media may make life seem less interesting than what is seen on the various platforms. As previously mentioned, most of the pictures and videos posted on social media are scripted and edited. As social media allows people to follow their friends and favourite celebrities, it is normal to envy what is posted on social media and wants the same life. Social media platforms are full of pictures with people either vacationing, posing inside flashy and expensive cars and even shopping in exclusive malls and brands. This makes people feel that they have accomplished nothing and live a boring lifestyle. However, people don’t really realise how these ‘social media stars’ get their wealth and how often they get to spend them. A person may go on one vacation, take multiple photos and post them every day over a month on two. This will give the followers a false sense of them living an interesting life while, in reality, it was only a weekend-long vacation. The want for a better and adventurous life and slowly cripples to couples and partners wanting the same life as other people are living- a remedy for doom in the relationship.

Being over-reliant on social media post may also lead to jealousy (Baldwin-White & Gower, 2021). Feelings of insecurity and suspicions have been heightened by the use of social media. Social media allows partners to keep track of and monitor the interest of each other. With cookies and Facebook algorithms generating interests and suggesting them to the social media user, another partner may get suspicious of what interest the other partner. For instance, Facebook allows people to keep track of their friends and even former girlfriend/boyfriend. Further liking and conversations between these parties allow Facebook to notify them if they post their pictures or even share memories. This constant alert and a reminder may lead to the other partner thinking that their other half is more interested in other people than them. Suspicions, in turn, turns to jealousy, and series of disagreements may crop from one simple misunderstanding. Jealousy may also be informed of one partner seeing that their friends are having better relationships than them. Some couples are known for frequently sharing their happy moments, which may lead to other couples feeling that they are not having the same level of fun as the others. This eventually leads to jealousy and one partner feeling that they are in a wrong relationship and deserve to have fun daily.

Social media also distracts partners from spending quality time with each other (David & Roberts, 2017). According to the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), internet addiction is considered a mental health disorder and is very common among many social media users. More time spent on social media daily may slowly lead to a person getting internet addiction. With the use of social media comes the dopamine rush, which can only be satisfied if the same level of social media excitement is maintained daily. This rush makes people get less engaged and detached from the average normal and quieter environment surrounding them. Unfortunately, the same environment comprises of couples and friends, who may slowly start to seem less interesting due to internet addiction. In these situations, the other partners may want to share personal information on sensitive matters, only for the other partner to be emotionally unavailable. It is through this sharing of personal information that partners find comfort while confiding with each other. Unfortunately, internet and social media addiction may deprive them of this important need for expression, and ultimately leading to partners not spending quality time together.

Finally, social media can also lead to body image issues that may affect how couples view and are attracted to each other. Most of the social media models posing with edited pictures may affect a user’s body image issues. According to the Journal of the International Society for Sexual Medicine, women who have an underlying body image problem have a hard time getting sexually aroused (Quiroz & Mickelson, 2017). The study shows that women tend to base their sexual life on their body image. This means that if a woman feels attractive, the chances are that their arousal will be higher compared to those who view themselves negatively. These body perceptions may adversely affect the sexual life of married couples, which is a sacred entity in marriage.

Conclusion

Social media has made life easier for people worldwide and has significantly promoted relationship life between patterns and friends. People can be in constant communication and share joyful memories even when they are not together. The connectivity that social media harbours help to strengthen relationships and make them last in different ways. However, social media has also been a source of disappointments with unrealistic life expectations. It has increased the pressure of people already with prior attachment and body issues by intensifying them. All in all, social media users need to distinguish between reality and fantasy and create a healthy balance between social media use and interaction with the surrounding environment.

References

Arikewuyo, A. O., Lasisi, T. T., Abdulbaqi, S. S., Omoloso, A. I., & Arikewuyo, H. O. (2020). Evaluating the use of social media in escalating conflicts in romantic relationships. Journal of Public Affairs, e2331.

Baldwin-White, A., & Gower, K. (2021). Influence of social media on how college students perceive healthy relationships and consent. Journal of American College Health, 1-9.

Quiroz, S. I., & Mickelson, K. D. (2021). Are online behaviors damaging our in-person connections? Passive versus active social media use on romantic relationships. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 15(1).

Chukwuere, J. E., & Chukwuere, P. C. (2017). The impact of social media on social lifestyle: A case study of university female students. Gender and Behaviour, 15(4), 9966-9981.

David, M. E., & Roberts, J. A. (2017). Phubbed and alone: Phone snubbing, social exclusion, and attachment to social media. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 155-163.

Rees, F. (2018). A Qualitative Investigation into The Effects of Social Media on Psychological Wellbeing and Relationships.