Relationships

How Facebook Has Changed Relationships

facebook-relationshipsBeing in a relationship can be a great and wonderful time full of new feelings and adventures. With today's social media platforms however, this can change the dynamic of how we view relationships and what happens when they end.

Many relationships today even depend on social networks such as Facebook to continue the courting process and share the relationship with friends and family members. What makes this bad is when a relationship is over and there are all the memories from it that are not only in the home but on Facebook too. In today's relationships, not only does one have to clean house in the real world but it must also be done online.

There are three main ways that people deal with a relationship on their Facebook page:

  1. Stalking - Most would not admit to this but they keep their friendship with their ex in order to see what they are up to and if they have found anyone new. While this may not seem to be so bad to some, it is still not healthy. It is much easier to stalk an ex through Facebook than it would have been ten years ago without social media. The stalker is typically the person who was not ready for the relationship to end and they use social media in an unhealthy way to stay "close" to their ex.
  2. Deleting Everything - On the exact extreme opposite of stalking is the one who deletes everything the minute the relationship has ended. They don't want to see any of the photos or posts that were made when they were happy in their relationship. They immediately untag themselves from all of the ex's photos and unfriend the ex immediately. There is no looking back and just like the stalker, this person is not dealing with the end of the relationship in a healthy way.
  3. Selective Deleting - The healthiest of the three ways people deal with the end of a relationship on Facebook is the person who selectively deletes. This means that they hang on to a few photos or posts that they remember fondly and cherish. Sadly, not many people can handle a break up in this way and they tend to go to one extreme or the other.

When some business users are concerned with getting likes and boosting sales, many personal users are concerned with the latest gossip or who's seeing who. Emotions run wild on Facebook and the immediacy of it all means many don't take the time to cool off before posting. This can lead to a lot of problems.

It is never easy to lose a relationship but with social media sites like Facebook it can turn people ugly very quickly if they do not have a handle on their emotions. Everyone who has a Facebook account has seen posts from couples who have broken up that should not be publicized. It's so easy to get caught up in the pain of the loss that people tend to forget that Facebook is more than just a place to connect with friends. It's a public forum and everything that is put out there is up for public debate. In the past, when a relationship was over there was some crying on a friend's shoulder or having a few beers with the boys. There may have been mudslinging but it wasn't done in as public of a way as it is today.

Brittany Clark is a Facebook fanatic who loves to share her experiences with others by writing articles with tips and advice about social media marketing.

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