Has this ever happened to you? You've been seeing someone for a period of time, and you really like them. You decide to make your relationship official, so you tell your friends. However, they quickly respond with a, "So when are you two going to be Facebook official?" If this is something that has happened to you, that is OK because it is something that has become all too common in our dating world.
As soon as we start dating someone, it has become common practice to update our social media relationship statuses. We want people to see who we are dating, and we want to show off our relationship. It can provide a sense of validation of "this person actually likes me and I like them."
Why, though? Why do we need to validate our relationship by posting it all over social media? Maybe we don't want to be bombarded with questions about our relationship from everybody. Maybe we are comfortable and confident enough with ourselves and our relationship that we don't need to hear what other people think. Just because our relationship isn't on Facebook, it doesn't mean that it is any less real or important.
Personally, I like to keep a sense of privacy to my personal dating life. That's why it is called your "personal" life. Anyone who really needs to know about my relationship is probably in my close circle of friends.
Sometimes, by making your relationship status public, you can run into some potential problems. What do you do if you break up within a week of posting your relationship status? How awkward does it feel to have to change your relationship status to "single" after only a week?
You also get the ones who are a bit too into your private life. This can range from jealous exes to nosy family members. When they don't see a picture posted of you two in awhile, they ask, "What happened? Are you guys still together? Did you break up?"
There are many different, less bold ways to show the world you are together. Updating your profile picture to the two of you, having a special birthday post or a subtle "Thank you for the flowers" on their wall. These are smaller and possibly more meaningful gestures that say you are together.
I can understand being proud of your relationship, but you don't need to have it blasted all over every social media account. If you are worried about not getting 100 likes on your relationship status, you should not be in a relationship.
Don't be pressured by others to make choices regarding your relationship. If you want to keep your relationship private, that is your choice. If you want to be Facebook official, that is OK. Just be smart about it, and do it for the right reasons.
Ultimately, it's your relationship and no one needs to have a say in it but you and your significant other.
