The Internet has made lives easier. Getting in contact and staying connected with everything and everyone is now more convenient than ever before. However, it is important to know that not everything on the Internet is made with your best interest at heart. Some services skew with your perception of reality. It allows using the information as an easy build-up of societal pressure, which translates into creating the illusion of a false norm. Younger minds are more susceptible to falling prey to these ideologies and chasing them.
Social media is the most popular mode of utilizing the Internet, following and connecting to people. It’s through these means that you’d watch a couple going on an “ideal date” being romantic, picture-perfect, and all the good you can show. But no one stops to wonder how scripted all of it is and, without realizing, let these pictures and videos dedicate how you’d want your relationship to be.
Positive and negative impact on relationships
As with everything that has pros and cons, social media isn’t all filled with negative sides. There is a bright and dark angle to everything. It’s how you utilize the platform is what makes all the difference.
Social media are such a great means of getting in touch with a long-distance partner, special in today’s time, with a pandemic hovering over us. Social media is an excellent means of connecting and keeping social distancing, a must to protect the ones we love. Although it isn’t a complete replacement for physical contact, it makes this situation slightly more bearable.
Online dating sites sometimes act like social media platforms. Those who don’t have the time (or social irresponsibility) to go on dates every day or hit a party to find someone they like may enjoy services dedicated to bringing people together as a great alternative. Dating apps like Zoosk act as a window providing a glimpse of what’s inside a person’s life and mind. This allows you to form a decision before even going through the trouble of engaging only to be left disappointed.
Moreover, social media acts as an online album; every memory is saved on a profile for viewing. Unlike traditional modes of saving memories (i.e., physical copies, photographs) that can be damaged, lost, or destroyed in a house fire, social media is a superior alternative. The only difference is that you don’t own any of these pictures when you upload them to social media: they can all be gone if service shuts down or if you receive a ban (no matter if it is justified or not.)
And there’s more, as the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Other social media’s negative impacts include addiction. It’s no surprise to us when we find everyone using their mobile phones without caring about social interactions. Get-togethers have become rare, and nobody invests time in getting to know each other. Worst of all is when you end up on a date with someone who always keeps checking their phone.
Additionally, surfing on social media platforms looking at all the dates, gifts, and romantic gestures performed by couples showing off their relationship and tagging #couplegoals adds pressure on your partner and skews your perception of your relationship to look. It’s an unhealthy act to let such staged acts dedicate that your love life should be.
Is it better to look for a partner on social media or a dating site?
Social media lets you connect with people, but little you see what the person truly is like. Nobody wishes to show off their wrong side to the world. Hence most things on social platforms are hidden, and only the good is open to the public. You can easily be scammed through profiles pretending to be someone they aren’t as social platforms aren’t as well regulated.
Dating sites make a better choice. All profiles are mostly real; any fake profile gets taken down during routine checks. You have a glimpse of what the person behind the screen is like through their profile description well before you engage in conversations. Your chances of success increase, as people are purely there to find love, unlike social media platforms where most users communicate and read their news feed. Transitioning to chatting on social by starting on a dating site is the best course of action.
Tips for building healthy relationships online
Dating isn’t rocket science, it’s relatively simple, but everyone makes mistakes at one point or another. Here are some tips to get you a leg up in building a healthy relationship.
1. Invest time
Time is vital; everyone wants to feel valued. If you treat someone you like as a second priority, someone out there is ready to treat them like their first. Nobody, including you, would want to feel like a second class citizen. Hence making time, even if it’s just a simple good morning or good night text, makes a lot of difference.
2. Keep privacy, not secrecy.
Keep your relationship private. You don’t have to show off your relationship with others constantly. That’s adding to the negative that society and social media platforms portray! Be the change you want to see. However, this doesn’t mean you don’t let people know who your partner is, flaunt them but not your relationship.
3. Respect differences
No two people agree on everything. It’s a reasonably common phrase to say opposites attract. This is why when you get into a relationship, respect the differences your partner has, don’t get political or defensive. Relationship differences are supposed to be a discussion, not a debate. In the end, either everybody wins, or everyone loses.
Story by Tim Robinson. Tim is an experienced relationship and dating expert who loves traveling and exploration of any kind.
Share
Contributors
