The Impact of Social Media on Romantic Relationships: Navigating the Pitfalls

The world is a global village today as a result of technological advancement. Social media is an offshoot of technological advancement, it has created several opportunities for people to be abele to communicate in real time thereby breaking distance and time barriers. Social media is helping couple who are in distant relationships to stay connected thereby strengthening their bonds. It has some negative effects on relationships. Here are some of the ways that social media can negatively affect lovers

Jealousy and Insecurity
Social media can easily breed jealousy and insecurity for couples due to the activities of their partner. For instance, a man can easily get insured when he sees the undue attention is being showered on his lover. This can be complicated when she has large followers or gets much traffic on her social media platforms. If she deliberately seeks validation from people through the frequent uploading of her pictures or making playful or flirtatious comments on her social media account, it could lead to friction in her relationship. Nobody will be comfortable seeing their lover getting undue attention from the opposite sex. Many relationships have been destroyed as a result of people’s activities on Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok etc.

Unrealistic Comparisons
Relationships are crashing these days as a result of people creating unrealistic expectations for their lovers after being influenced by the things that they see on social media. Sadly, most people are deceived by the things that are portrayed on social media. If only that they know that most of the things that are displayed on social media are not real. Most content creators only post the things that they want people to see. For instance, a lady may want her boyfriend to buy her the latest iPhone on her birthday after seeing how guys are buying the luxury phone for their lovers on social media.

Divided Attention
Too much focus on social media can cause friction in a relationship. When people spend too much time on social media, it may create an impression of emotionally abandonment in the mind of their partner. For instance, when one partner is always stuck to their phone or laptop creating contents, chatting or scrolling, their partner may feel neglected because they are not longer getting the needed attention that they desire.

Privacy Invasion
Social media can negatively impact relationship in the area of privacy intrusion especially for people who don’t like to put their private business on social media. Friction can arise when a person loves to upload their pictures or reveal sensitive details about their relationship as against the wishes of their partner. Relationship may face a lot of pressure when lovers come under intense scrutiny due to their previous disclosure of sensitive information about themselves on social media.

Infidelity
Social media is a cesspool for infidelity. It exposes people in committed relationships to temptation especially the ones with loose moral values. Some people join some social media platforms especially dating apps in order to cheat on their spouse/partner. The possibility of ex lovers reconnecting is very high thereby reigniting their old flames despite being in committed relationships. Social media affords strangers to have casual interactions with each other, sometimes these interactions can blossom into romance if clear boundaries are not set.

Limited Face-to-Face Interaction
Real-life engagements can suffer when couples depend too much on social media communications. Relationship blossoms when couples create time to have real-life communications. Lovers can enjoy Intimacy, bonding and meaningful conversations via real-life interactions. Relationship can be strengthened when couples thrive to create a balance between real-life engagements and communication on social media.

Pressure to Showcase Relationship
Some couples love flaunting their relationship on social media with public display of affection pictures because they enjoy validation from strangers. Sometimes, negative comments from mischievous people about lovers who always flaunt their relationship on social media can trigger tension in the relationship. The pressure to always project a flawless relationship to strangers on social media can induce stress and cause lovers to pay less attention on each other.

Conclusion
Lovers can easily navigate the pitfalls that social media can cause to a relationship if they learn to priortise real-life interactions over online communications. Setting clear boundaries with social media users, respecting their relationship are another way for couples to avoid problems. Lovers should avoid social media platforms or pages that can compromise their relationship. Couples who limit chatting with strangers and also minimise the way at which they put sensitive details of themselves on social media can have a healthy relationship while using the internet.