15 Ways Social Media Could Ruin Your Relationship
It's funny to think that we used to live in a world without social media. It's such a massive part of our daily life that it's hard to imagine what we would do when we couldn't Instagram our oatmeal and coffee in the morning, tweet about our latest TV obsession, and like our best friend's Facebook statuses. Then there's the fact that dating is a whole lot different because of social media. It has completely changed the way that we love and date, no ifs, ands or buts. Sometimes social media can be an amazing, beautiful thing because we're able to talk to others on a regular basis and we feel more connected. But other times, social media is pretty much the worst, and we've all seen both the good and the bad. So what is social media like when you're in a serious relationship? It's definitely more bad than good.
Here are 15 ways social media could ruin your relationship.
15 You Could Overshare
Oversharing is pretty much the entire point of social media. Okay, so maybe it originally wasn't the point, but it has definitely become that way. You're sick and tired of seeing people constantly tweet what they're eating for lunch or complain about their bad work day on Facebook (or worse, going into super details about their latest break-up). Social media is pretty much a huge vehicle for the worst TMI ever. The problem with this is that when you're in a relationship, you tend to overshare on social media. You post about him all the time. You brag about his best qualities, how cute he looked at lunch today, and oh yeah, how much you love him. You definitely talk about that last point a lot. That's all well and good… Oh wait, it's not good at all. It means that you're the worst and that your boyfriend could wonder why you can't keep anything private.
14 You Could Upset Him
If you're always posting photos of your boyfriend on your social media channels, guess what? He's going to hate it. Sure, at first he might say it's cute and he might think it's really sweet that you're so into him. But he's going to get tired of this and he's going to get really upset eventually. He will probably start a huge argument about it and ask you to please stop posting photos of him and of the two of you on your Facebook and Instagram profiles. He's not going to want his image to be plastered across your social media feeds, no matter how cute you think he looks and no matter how innocent you think sharing these pictures is. This will really prove that women and men totally differ in terms of social media sharing. What you think is no big deal is what will really and truly piss him off and even hurt him.
13 You Could Flirt With Other Guys
If you're using Instagram or Facebook to flirt with other guys, even if you think you're just innocently liking a selfie from that cute guy that you met at a party last week, your relationship will definitely be on the line… if it's not ruined completely. Your boyfriend will absolutely not think that this digital flirting is no big deal. In fact, he's going to think that it's a really big deal, and you will never, ever be able to think otherwise. After all, if the situation was reversed, you might not be so thrilled. It's funny how putting yourself in your boyfriend's shoes can really and truly change your perspective (and it's kind of annoying since doing this makes you realize how much you just messed up). When you flirt with other guys on social media, you think it's really innocent because you're not cheating on your boyfriend. But your BF will think that you want to leave him and be with someone else, and that won't be good news.
12 You Can Facebook Stalk Your Exes
You know that Facebook is pretty much prime ground for stalking your exes… especially your most recent one. The one that still is at the forefront of your mind, no matter how much you've tried to move on (and no matter how much you love your current boyfriend). You're absolutely going to Facebook stalk at least one of your ex-boyfriends. You just won't be able to help it. The digital temptation is just way too strong and it's tough to get past that. You will want to see where he's living now, if he has a new girlfriend (and what she looks like, what she does, where she comes from… but that's another Facebook stalking rabbit hole), and if he has mentioned you in any of his posts. Okay, so you totally get that he probably would never do that, especially if the break-up was a while ago. But a girl can hope. Of course, this is going to really ruin your relationship if your boyfriend finds out.
11 He Could, Too
Do you want your beloved boyfriend to Facebook stalk his own ex-girlfriends? Definitely not, right? Well, sorry to break it to you, but he could absolutely do this (especially if he finds out that you have a little FB stalking habit of your own). He might be curious about what life would have been like if he hadn't broken up with his last girlfriend, and if he's been told that she has gotten into another relationship or even gotten engaged or married, he might want to see what she looks like now and how she seems to be doing. You're going to be insanely jealous if you find this out, no matter how much you might try to play it cool and act like it's no big deal. And this can mean really bad news for your relationship. You might no longer trust him or feel like he's as invested in this relationship as you are. And it's really hard to get past that.
10 You Could Care More About Likes Than Him
The worst thing that could happen to your relationship? That would be if you care so much about the likes that you get on your Facebook and Instagram posts that you let it distract you from what's really important, aka your lovely boyfriend. This is sadly all too easy to do in this day and age. Our society has become so into getting likes and followers that it can be tough to be okay with not getting 100 likes on a selfie or not getting enough comments on our latest witty Facebook status (or at least our best attempt to be witty). Your boyfriend might wonder why you seem to be spending all your time obsessing over your likes instead of, you know, actually spending time with him. Which is what you're supposed to be doing, right? Otherwise, why are you even in this relationship? Why not just dump him and be single? Oh, because you love him? So yeah, this might not be the best news for your relationship.
9 You Could Feel Miserable
You know how everyone brags about their engagement on social media? That can really backfire and make you feel totally miserable for not being engaged yet. You could hate seeing everyone's ring selfies on Instagram and Facebook and feeling like that is never going to be you, no matter how long you stay with your current boyfriend. This can make you fight with your boyfriend since, of course, you are going to ask him why it seems like every woman that you know is getting married when here you are with an empty ring finger. He is not going to love hearing that since he is going to ask why you are comparing yourself to people that you see on Facebook. He just will not get how upset it makes you and he is never really going to understand. That is one of the major differences between guys and girls, that's for sure.
8 You Could Compete
When you do get engaged, or even if you're just in a serious relationship, you compete with other girls on social media. You can't help it, but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea. Far from it, actually. You compete by posting selfies of yourself with the ring all the time. You post couple selfies, too, and wait for the adoring comments to roll in -- and when you don't get enough, you post even more photos, hoping that will change things. Before you know it, you're about to ruin your perfectly good relationship because you're so obsessed with sharing your stuff on social media, proving that you have a better boyfriend or fiance than anyone else, and trying to just seem generally better than anyone else. It's a frustrating path to go down because your boyfriend will never think this is a good idea. Eventually, he's going to ask why everything is such a competition with you.
7 You Feel Disconnected
If you and your boyfriend have crazy busy work weeks and don't spend a ton of time together, but you're still messaging via Facebook, you might think everything is totally fine. After all, you're still communicating, right? Actually, not. Not even close. You're not really communicating because you're literally typing words on a screen and sending them to each other. If you're mainly using social media to communicate with your boyfriend, you're seriously throwing your relationship for a major curveball. You need to make sure that you're seeing each other face-to-face and getting some good quality time in on a regular basis. Sure, sometimes you can't help your busy schedules and it's just not possible, and you don't want to just not talk for a week. That would be even worse. But if you're relying on something like Facebook messages for your main form of communication, that's not a good idea. It's just not going to be enough.
6 You Need To Have Serious Talks Face-To-Face
On that note, if you and your boyfriend are FB messaging on a regular basis, are you having serious talks that way? If you are, that's really bad news. You have to talk to your boyfriend about important things when you are together. In person. Face-to-face. You know the super old-fashioned way. If you don't do this and you rely on social media, you're really asking for a break-up. The scary thing about social media and the Internet, in general, is that you totally think you're talking in a normal way. You don't even notice that you can't tell if someone is mad at you or upset because, hey, those negative emotions just don't translate that well over texts and emails and Facebook messages. You don't even seem to care that you haven't heard a real human voice all day long since it's Sunday and you're lying on your couch watching Netflix. But this does matter eventually.
5 You Need To Live In The World
The problem with social media is, of course, it's not really that social. It's actually funny that that's the name of it since as we all know, you end up sitting alone looking at your phone or your laptop most of the day. You're not actually physically hanging out with anyone or really talking to them. You're typing. that's all. If you can't be present and focus on the world around you, and that means your relationship, then your boyfriend is going to think that you don't care. And why wouldn't he go down that road? You would totally think the same thing if he refused to pay attention to you or if his nose was always buried in his iPhone or his laptop. You honestly need to put down your phone, stop looking at your social media accounts, and spend more time with the guy that you swore you loved so much you needed to have him in your life.
4 You Will Regret Missing Out
If you spend all your time on your Facebook and Instagram accounts because it's just so important to see what food and stats updates people are posting, you will regret it. You will regret missing out on what's really happening in your life… aka your relationship. Why are you even with this guy? So you can ignore him while you're hanging out, whether you're watching TV or at a pub about to have dinner? Probably not, right? You probably thought that he was a great addition to your life and, oh yeah, you're really into him. So that's why you two are together. It's not so you can ignore him all the time and act like everything and anything is more important than him. Think about how much of your life and your relationship you're going to miss out on. You will definitely be upset later on if you get dumped because you couldn't stop checking your social media accounts.
3 You Could Get Super Annoying
The thing is that if you are social media obsessed, that automatically makes you a really annoying person. Sorry not sorry to tell you the truth about that. You can't honestly think that caring about likes and comments and selfies makes you a better person than people who don't care about that stuff. You just can't. Didn't you learn that it's what's on the inside that counts in life, not what's on your Facebook profile? This also means that you're not going to be the most fun person to be around. Think about it. Every single time that you hang out with your boyfriend, you're going to be documenting the activity for your fans and followers. You're going to take a million selfies before you find the best one to post (because you know that's how it always goes down). You're going to take photos of all the food and drink that you have. Is your BF going to love that? Definitely not.
2 You Could Forget The Whole Point
When you're posting on social media about your life and you happen to be in a relationship, you tend to talk about your boyfriend. You probably think there's no way that you couldn't, right? After all, this guy is a huge part of your life. But when you do this and rely on social media so much, you really forget the whole point of being in a relationship at all. And that's going to spell doom for your love life. Sadly, it can be pretty easy to forget that you want to spend item with the person that you love and who you sear is so important to you. There are so many other things in life to worry and think about, from your job to your friendships to your family (and any drama that is often going on with any of those things). But when you care so much about what someone just posted on Twitter or making sure that your Instagram account looks 100 percent beautiful and perfect, you're going to forget the point: that you have a person that you love.
1 You Could Literally Cause The Break-Up
If you think that all your social media posts about your lovely and cute and romantic boyfriend are totally innocent, think again. You might literally cause your own break-up if you do these things. It's possible that your boyfriend is going to get really concerned about the lack of privacy in your relationship. He's going to wonder why nothing is sacred anymore and why you can't just let things be and not tell the world (or at least your little social media corner of it) about all the stuff that he does for you. You may think that it's fun to brag about his romantic gestures and how great he is as a boyfriend. But he won't think that way. After all, is he sharing all that romantic and intimate stuff on his own social media profiles? Definitely not. Guys just don't do that. They respect a relationship's privacy and they don't want people to know this stuff. So if you literally cause your own break-up, you may want to blame social media. But you really only have yourself to blame.