For my English final, one of our topics was about how young adults, like myself, use social media as a way to verify relationships. It really got me to thinking how social media literally controls every aspect of our lives, including the romantic aspect. Obviously I am guilty of the social media usage, as is everyone that I am friends with on Facebook, or my followers on Instagram know about my boyfriend and his dog. I'll admit, they're a popular subject on my page, so I am not innocent in this battle of social media and relationships. Nine out of ten times when I meet someone, they use social media, making it an easy way to show everyone you have ever crossed paths with every aspect in your life, especially relationships.
1. #ManCandyMonday and #WomenCrushWednesday
With “man candy Monday” and “women crush Wednesday” being a commonly used hashtag, showing people how “cute” you and your boyfriend are is now a weekly occurrence. The fact that receiving one is an important part of a relationship to some people is something that cannot be overlooked: because a #WCW makes everything okay? Plus, the hashtags really don't have any meaning to them: “I love you! #MCM” as the caption for a picture of my tater tots from sonic, I don’t think I want the same hashtag as some tater tots to tell me I am beautiful.
2. #RelationshipGoals
Two twenty-one-year-olds roaming around Rome is totally realistic, right? No, it’s not. The photos are unrealistic and really shouldn’t be setting “goals” for anyone: wouldn’t you want a unique relationship opposed to something you saw on a twitter page? I know I would, but maybe that's just me.
3. Facebook Official
Now-a-days, people think that all of their Facebook friends, including the ones that you haven’t talked to since 6th grade, have to know you are in a relationship. Being Facebook official is one of the first things that people do when they get into a relationship (even myself).
4. Posting the date everywhere!
I hate going to follow someone and seeing a date in their bio on twitter, as if the 25 pictures of your boyfriend made me question if you were single or not. Personally, it’s not my style, but my ex-boyfriend on the other hand, took it very seriously: he actually called off our relationship because I wouldn’t put it in my bio on twitter, saying that I “made it clear” that I didn’t want to be with him. I feel like another reason people post their “In a relationship with…” is so that they can gloat about how long they’ve been together, so that every year they can post a “one year-ago today” photo collage that Facebook has premade for them. Another thing about the twitter bio: people will commonly “stalk” your twitter to find out if you are still with the person or not, because if it’s not in you bio, are you really together?
5. Liking a post is equivalent to cheating
Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram cause more problems in relationships than they actually should. Liking people’s pictures on Instagram while you’re in a relationship is a crime. People actually go out of their way to see if their boyfriend/girlfriend double tapped a photo of that cutie from chemistry lab class, and if they did, just know that there will be an argument about it. Same goes for favoriting that cuties tweets, once your boyfriend/girlfriend goes on to you Twitter page and takes a quick look under your favorites tab and sees that you favorited chem class cuties tweet, you are going to have some explaining to do.
6. Snapchatting is so suspicious
If your boyfriend/girlfriend is snapping some girl that is in his best friends list with a 17-day-streak, then it must mean they're cheating, right? With the picture going away as soon as those short six seconds go by, it's easy to be suspicious, but lets be real, that girl that he's snapping is probably not interested in him and she's just upset about how much homework she has and is send the snap to everyone on her best friend's list just to save the streak.
