Social Media Impact on Relationships: The Good and the Bad

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Modern relationships are influenced by social media, the virtual world that has become an integral part of our lives. It affects romantic partnerships, friendships, and family bonds. 

Social media allows us to connect instantly, share moments, and explore new relationships. However, it has both positive and negative effects on our relationships.

Social media brings people closer, overcoming distance and time. It provides a space for self-expression, where we share our interests and gain validation. But it also presents challenges. The constant display of perfection leads to feelings of inadequacy and envy. 

Moreover, never-ending notifications can distract us from real-life connections. To navigate modern relationships, we must be aware of social media’s influence and approach it with empathy.

According to Grady Shumway, a licensed mental health counselor:

Social media plays a significant role in shaping modern relationships, offering both benefits and drawbacks. While it facilitates instant connection and self-expression, it also promotes feelings of inadequacy and distraction from real-life connections.

Acknowledging and managing social media’s impact on relationships is essential for maintaining healthy and fulfilling connections in today’s digital age.

This article discusses the social media impact on relationships in detail. Let’s delve into the complexities of modern connections. 

What is a modern relationship?

Before we jump to social media impact on relationships, let’s understand the dynamics of modern relationships.

Gone are the days when only the male had the power to make decisions for his family or the woman was only responsible for household chores. 

Gone are the days when males were dominant and toxic in the relationship. However, it doesn’t mean females are toxic and dominant in modern relationships. Infect, no relationship can survive if couples are toxic.

In modern relationships, there is equality and mutual respect between the partners. They take responsibility together for their future, and both participate equally in any crucial decision-making for the family. 

What are the types of modern relationships?

Modern relationships don’t only mean having equal rights and respect between partners. There’s more to this dynamic and it’s important to understand this in order to uncover the social media impact on relationships.

To understand how social media is affecting relationships, here are a few examples of modern relationships we experience or come across in our surroundings

1. Living together without marriage

There are many couples who choose to live together without getting married. These couples live together, share responsibilities and home and live a life as committed partners do. 

2. Open relationship

In an open relationship, partners allow each other to have other romantic partners or sexual relationships while maintaining their emotional bond in the first place.

3. Long-distance relationship

As the name suggests, couples who live far away and still maintain their relationships are known as long-distance relationships. 

Other examples of modern relationships can be friends with benefits, living apart together, virtual relationships, and many more. 

Modern Relationships demand trust, commitment, and honesty from partners. 

Just as Grady Shumway suggests:

Modern relationships encompass various dynamics, including long-distance relationships and other contemporary arrangements like friends with benefits or living apart together. Trust, commitment, and honesty are essential components regardless of the relationship type.

While social media can significantly influence modern relationships, it’s important to examine its advantages and disadvantages in shaping and maintaining these connections.

Social media has a big influence on modern relationships. 

Let’s understand the various benefits and disadvantages of social media impact on relationships.

Positive influence of social media on modern relationships

Social media can allow us to connect instantly, share moments, and explore new relationships, bridging gaps of time and distance in modern relationships. Here are some relationship benefits of social media.

1. Helps single people meet

Social media and relationships are intricately connected. When opening my first social media account, my primary motive was to find my soulmate.

After 12 years of continuous searching, I have come to the conclusion that my soulmate is not on social media yet. 

My point is social media is a great way to meet single people. You can find someone while swiping Instagram or Snapchat or through recommendations by these social media apps. The possibilities are endless.

Also, there are various dating apps through which you can find your life partner. Tinder-the dating app- has 75 million users, and out of these, 6.03 million are paid users. 

So, we can conclude safely that social media does help in finding single people. 

2. Communication 

One of the biggest benefits of social media impact on relationships is connection or communication between the partners. 

Couples can share images and videos, messages, do video calls, or even share their daily events online so that the couple can feel they are connected and close by. 

Over 376 million people use Snapchat, and 28% of users are from the U.S. There is a reason why these people are using social media for communication and not their pigeons to send messages. 

3. Record and share experiences

Social media is a great platform to record and share your live events and also a good platform to make single people jealous. 

Whenever I open my Facebook account, I see my friends getting married, traveling worldwide, or celebrating the birth of their first child. 

I say to myself that I am not jealous; I am just unhappy that good things are happening to people and not me. 

In 2019, around 2.1 million snaps were shared among Snapchat users. That’s a lot

4. Relationship advice and online support

One of the practical outcomes of social media impact on relationships.

Sometimes you need someone to guide you or need advice on your relationship. What to plan on the weekend, how to arrange a surprise anniversary party, what to do when you have a fight, whether to share your emotions with your spouse, how to improve your sex life, etc.

Seeking advice doesn’t mean broadcasting your personal life to 10,000 followers on Instagram. You can find various communities, groups, or professional counselors to help you with your current relationship problems.

Couples therapy positively impacts 75% of couples who receive it. 

5. Cultural background understanding

The profound impact of social media on human relationships can be realized in terms of access to people’s backgrounds.

Suppose you like someone from your college but know nothing about her. Social media can be a great help to learn about that person’s cultural background. 

You can learn how she grew up, family traditions, and cultural celebrations. 

Moreover, social media exposes people to various cultural traditions around the world. 

Couples can benefit from understanding the cultures and beliefs, which can help them to strengthen their relationship.

Negative influence of social media on modern relationships

Social media acts as a double-edged sword for modern relationships. One way it helps is by increasing communication and connectivity; in other ways, it increases the risk of divorce, cheating, conflict, breaking trust, jealousy, increased stress, and many more. 

Facebook is held responsible for 1 out of 3 divorces in the U.S. Also, recent studies have shown that today’s teens are more stressed than any other generation. Social media may be one of the causes of stress for these teens.

1. Jealousy and insecurity among couples

Jealousy is the most common challenge in terms of social media impact on relationships.

Modern Relationships are mostly based on trust, but what happens when your girlfriend receives tons of messages in the inbox from random people?

People who might be way above you, or people who are rich, handsome, and social. You can justify yourself by shouting, ‘No, I trust her. She is not like that.’ but there are still chances.

All I am saying is social media does create insecurity and jealousy among couples.

34% of young adults feel insecure or jealous in their relationships because of how their partners interact with others on social media. 

2. Comparison with others 

Ideally, we shouldn’t compare our lives with others; we should be happy with what we have, live in the present, and be thankful to God for this life. But this doesn’t actually happen in the present era.

We do compare our lives with others, intentionally or unintentionally. We are not monks who train their brains for hours daily. 

We are normal human beings, and we compare ourselves with others’ perfect lives on social media and become unhappy. 

Depression has increased by 52% in teens and 63% in young adults over the last decade because of social media. This comparison creates unhappiness and stress in modern relationships.

Here’s an insightful video on how to stop being jealous & comparing yourself to others:

3. Create false representation of relationships

Social media can create unrealistic expectations among couples. In social media, we only see the filtered version of people’s lives. 

Not many people post when they are fighting with their spouse or going through relationship issues, stress, or unhappiness. 

We only post when we go to the gym, are on vacation, have expensive dinners, cuddle on the sofa and watch Netflix, get married, have surprise parties, etc.; you got the point. 

This false representation of relationships can cause stress and unhappiness among couples. 

4. Infidelity

As I mentioned, one in three divorces is linked to social media impact on relationships. Is it social media that lures couples to cheat, or is it the people who just need a way to cheat? I think it’s both. 

30% of Tinder users are already married. It means that 30% are already looking for other partners while committed. 

Moreover, social media does help in connectivity and communication with larger groups of people. 

Perhaps, getting connected to larger people also has its disadvantages. 

5. Addiction

A person can be addicted to social media. I am living proof.

Have you heard about the dopamine hormone? – yes, the feeling good hormone. Dopamine plays a crucial role in creating addictive behaviors. The reason is a person doesn’t receive the same amount of happiness or dopamine from similar activities. 

It is always the new information that provides more pleasure. You cannot enjoy the same video over and over again. That’s why reels are so addictive. They are short, easy to find, and have tons of content. 

Once a person becomes addicted to social media, he spends less time with his partner and enjoys less with the offline world. This creates chaos and dissatisfaction among couples. 

Here are some stats, according to crossrivertherapy.

• Around 70% of teens and young adults in the US have a social media addiction.
• Over 60% of men and over 55% of women are addicted to social media.

Taking the best out of social media

One cannot put a conclusion that social media is bad or good. The influence of social media can be positive or negative depending upon the person who uses it. 

It’s up to the individual’s character how they use social media. Mindless surfing will only hurt an individual in the long run. But, a person can use social media mindfully. 

Social media is a great way to connect with your loved ones and take a break from the outside world; it may help you to relax and also help you to find your soulmate. Who knows!