Facebook and Relationships

                Social media has taken over the internet and what seems like the whole world.  According to Facebook, they have over 500 million users. That means that 1 in every 13 people have a Facebook. This number is both impressive and astounding. A little bit scary too. This means that 499,999,999 other people can look you up and find information about where you live; go to school, and who you are in a relationship with.  Before Facebook only your friends and family knew your relationship status but now close to 500 million other people can too. Social media, especially Facebook, has made relationships more public.

                “John Bob is now in a relationship with Mary Jane”

                This is what pops up on the news feeds of both Mary and John’s friends. According to Facebook, an average user has at least 200 friends. This means that once a relationship is posted, 400 people instantly know about it. Most of those people don’t interact on a daily basis with John or Mary but yet they still know who they are dating. This is what Facebook as done to our society. We know so much about people’s lives. Before the days of Facebook, relationships were more private and were only known by those who talked about it. It used to be “Hey, did you hear Mary and John were dating” but now it’s “Hey, I saw on Facebook that Mary and John were dating”. This has changed how we look at our own relationships and those of others.

                Now that 7% of the world’s population is on Facebook, many couples have the “Should we make it Facebook official” discussion. This should be changed to: “Want to tell hundreds of other people we are dating?”. This shouldn’t be how love works. Love and relationships should be more confidential than the pictures of your latest vacation. While some people have their settings on private, or don’t put their relationship status up at all, others flaunt their status to their hundreds of friends.

                This raises the question: Has Facebook changed love? It has, and it hasn’t. It has changed the way we look at relationships. They are now more public. Facebook hasn’t changed relationships themselves. People will always like each other, even without Facebook. But information about a couple’s status whether is “married”, “complicated”, or “engaged” is a public advertisement of their life.  So next time you consider changing your relationship status, think twice about how many people you want to know about your love-life.  (416)