The breeze of
social media flew by with a purpose: to connect people. However, we never realised when that breeze became so strong that it created a storm. It is now a whirlpool, sucking in relationships by first wrecking it apart until it becomes broken beyond repair. Sure, there have been the pros of using social media like helping maintain a long – distance relationship, but the cons weigh too much that they can’t be ignored.
Studies have shown that a strong correlation exists between the usage of social media and unhappy relationships. Let’s break this down. When our boyfriend / husband uploads photos on social networking sites with other girls, it gives birth to insecurity and the Satan of all feelings - jealousy. We feel unsure about ourselves and our significant other. Our uncertainty is the causality to unhealthy relationships. All of a sudden, everything doesn’t seem peachy and we become suspicious of every girl he meets with. This creates the minor fights broken out due to our doubts, but can eventually lead to breakups or divorces.
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| photo courtesy: Weebly |
The issue is further escalated when we start feeling the need to
cyber-stalk our partner. We try to make sure we know each activity of our partner. Upon finding no evidence, frustration builds up which is compounded by the fact that suddenly your husband is coming home later than usual, or your boyfriend is meeting less frequently.
Then there is the evil impact of
Mobile Chatting Apps. They have been so addictive that when couples spend their time together, most of their time is spent on staring at the mobile’s screen. The tradition of married couples spending quality time together is seeming to fade away. Couples dating too, find their phones more interesting rather than the person sitting across the table.
Last Seen Feature
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| photo courtesy: AndroidPIT |
The
last seen feature, that many apps boast, is proving to be the cause of break-ups for some couples. They keep checking each other’s last seen and in this loop, are online during ungodly hours. This creates further doubt among the two.
Read Receipt Feature
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| photo courtesy: DigitalSpy |
Then is the read receipt feature. Should the person fail to reply to your text even after reading it, you can get highly suspicious about it, irrespective of what the circumstance might be. There is always the possibility of overlooking a text or his boss calling him for an urgent meeting right then.
Emoji Feature
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| photo courtesy: Pinterest |
Many of us also try to flood our partner’s phone with cheesy, honey-coated lines to strengthen our relationship. If anything, it only infuriates others to constantly attend to their beeping phone in the middle of something important or to open up the app only to face emojis after emojis and stickers after stickers that are accompanied with texts like
“You look chooooo chweet!”
Profile Picture Feature
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| photo courtesy: Dribble |
Only when you think that this could be the end of the pitfalls of chatting apps, here comes the Profile Picture feature to contradict you. This stands true for social networking sites as well. Other couples uploading their pictures, which are trying to showcase the “love” between them, can make you feel bad about your relationship. They can serve as potential rivals and could make you question your relationship.
However, in all its shortcomings, social media has indeed given us the opulence of connectivity. Social media can be great, networking sites and mobile chatting apps included. One has to only master the art of balancing lives online, and with their special ones.
Written by
Ishita Dhoot
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