"Do our personalities match up well?"
"Will my parents like her/him?"
"Should we make it Facebook official?"
Huh? Seriously?
Seriously, yes.
It's no secret that social media drives so many different markets in today's world. Information is flowing out of every nook and cranny of the internet, and it's all connected to you so your "friends" (Hah) and anybody else who cares (or pretends to care) can see. But romantic relationships? The things we say and the pictures we post on the internet couldn't possibly carry over to real life right? A real life where moments and words shared between two star-crossed lovers hold infinite and eternal meaning?
Wrong.
According to Divorce Online, more than one third of all divorce filings in 2011 contained the word "Facebook" in them. With divorce rates higher than ever in the US, this is a very telling statistic. Social media is not only affecting teenagers and twenty-somethings, but a sizeable amount of married couples. I found this and more in a very interesting read on MSN Living. The title of the article: "Is Facebook ruining your relationship?". It seems a bit ass-backwards that the most advanced, intelligent beings in the entire universe would allow words and pictures flashing across a webpage trump true, real-life interaction. But each and everyday this way of thinking is becoming more and more prevalent.
So I have a girlfriend now. She is funny, beautful, caring, adventurous... everything you would ever want in someone of the opposite sex. We recently decided that we were going to make our relationship together "official". The first order of business, of course, was to put it on Facebook.
I'm going to stop myself there. WHY? How have I gotten to this point in my life where, if I want something to be real, everybody on Facebook has to see that it's happened? There is no end to my frustration with this fact, because no matter how much I acknowledge and resent it, I still feel obligated to make my major life decisions public knowledge. I digress.
Upon making the nature of our relationship "Facebook Official", we were met with a warm response from many of our friends. We even had friends we hadn't spoken to in years message and text us to extend their congratulations. Maybe it's reasons like these that make us feel the need to post each and every little update about our life all over the internet. Whether we admit it or not, each and every person loves the feeling of being validated, and knowing that whatever decision I just made or whatever action I just took has been acknowledged and appreciated by all 1,011 of my Facebook friends.
But then came the flipside of this coin.
The people closest to my girlfriend had no idea that we had decided to become official. Advertising ourselves through Facebook at that point was no longer a way to receive affirmation and congratulations, but instead became a backhanded notion that it was more important for everybody else in the world to know the news.
I was never of the belief that something printed on a piece of paper, or something posted on my wall, or something tweeted @ me would ever possibly be able to affect me in a tangible way. And as the above situation demonstrates, I was wrong. There is now a certain consciousness and awareness that is required to properly navigate the treacherous waters of social media, and I'd venture to say that most people don't even realize the impact of the letters they are typing into those little boxes.
I, on the other hand, have become a believer in the power of social media.
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"You are what you share." -Charles Leadbeater
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