Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook: we live in a world that revolves around these social media networks. It’s hard to imagine a time where we didn’t have the convenience of having our cell phones glued to our hands and being able to see what everyone is doing at all times. The thought of it all is great: what an awesome way of staying connected and being “in the loop” with your friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc., right?

Well, I’m afraid that these luxuries have caused more destruction to our lives than we may think. Maintaining relationships in 2015 is far different than any generation before us, and I don’t necessarily believe that constant stimulation of a texting conversation and being able to keep tabs on our significant other at all times is doing us any justice. Technology is simply wearing us out and taking away from our peace of mind. For those in relationships, it’s not uncommon for an argument or fight to result from an Instagram like or a twitter follow, or taking it to heart when our significant other is being just a little too friendly to the opposite sex online. Having the opportunity to look at what your boyfriend or girlfriend is up to at any given time seems ideal and a great way to make sure they’re on their best behavior.

However, innocent intentions can easily be mistaken for something that it is not, leading us to create issues that aren’t actually there. Over time, keeping up with each other constantly and checking in on one another 24/7 becomes exhausting and makes us feel smothered- causing many relationships to crumble. These virtual actions take a toll on our real life relationships, but why let them? If we go into our relationships looking for it’s flaws, we will easily be able to create them within our own mind. Just because your boyfriend liked Jessica’s picture doesn’t mean that your boyfriend likes Jessica, and just because your girlfriend followed Nick does not mean that your girlfriend would rather be with Nick. We’ve allowed our phones to cheat us out of maintaining healthy relationships, and it’s only going to grow more difficult as technology advances. We all look at those elderly couples holding hands down the street and aspire to have an unconditional, lasting love like that someday.

But I ask myself: would they be in the same relationship if they grew up during our time period? Maybe those all those who maintained their love never searched for a reason to distrust their partner, or kept tabs on their every move, because they never had the chance. Maybe they maintained their relationship for so long because they had the opportunities to miss each other, truly miss each other, without being able to send a text message saying so. Maybe successful relationships develop from a little thing called trust, a trait that our generation lacks.