My Views

Nowadays due to access to technology has become easier in many parts of the world the way we live our lives has changed as well as how we communicate with others. One particular area, and the one this paper is focusing on is relationships. A new element in social relationships introduced by the increment of the amount of people with internet access is social networking,previous research has shown that Facebook is the platform most commonly used and it addition to it use to keep in contact with others it also works as a source to monitor what the actual significant other of someone is up to which is been related to have negative outcomes like a high amount of intrusion in the person’s life (Clayton, Nagurney & Smith, 2013).
Even though the view from younger generations about the use of social media impact on their relationships is mostly positive  (Lenhart, Anderson & Smith, 2015) a high use of social media platforms such as Facebook has been linked to major negative outcomes like breaking up, cheating or divorce (Clayton et al., 2013). One of the reasons for this contrast between people’s idea and actual investigation results might be the nature of the relationships since the use of social media and smartphones plays a major role in the possibility of maintaining long-distances relationships from which their involved participants report that the relationship would not be possible to maintain without the use of social media platforms (Lundquist, Lefebvre & Garramone, 2014). Clayton et al. (2013) findings showed that those who spend more time on Facebook might be indirectly neglecting  their partner and directly doing in when this platforms serves as a source to communicate with former partners enhancing the odds to develop what is called Facebook-related jealousy. This shows the difference on the effects according to one main aspect of the relationship, if it is a long-distance or not, having positive effects on the first kind but negative in the second.
An interesting group case for the impact of social media use are teenagers,  where a third reports not feeling more connected with their partner by the use of social media  and is also a third that reports feeling more jealous or unsure about their relationships due to social media use (Lenharth et al., 2015) where monitoring their significant other pictures and interactions with other people is the main cause for the feeling mentioned (Lenharth et al., 2015; Wilkerson 2017). A high of Facebook use has been linked to cause indirect temptation for cheating emotional or physically since it offers the possibility to be in touch with former partners and starting to communicate through this  platform causing jealousy that might lead to conflict and in ultimate instance to cheating or breaking up being this more common between couples who had been together less than 3 years (Clayton et al., 2013).
Personal preferences is important too for the possible outcome of social media use and the relationship since some individuals value more face to face meeting and avoid the use of social platforms as much as possible meanwhile others are able to find and are satisfied about finding themselves in a medium point between social media use and face to face interaction  (Lundquist et al., 2014).
Therefore social media impact is not an effect that occurs just by the use of it itself, it is affected by several aspects meaning that just blaming this platform for everything that might go wrong in a relationship is a mistake. Is up to how each individual is and the use the couple gives to social networks what is going to determinate if it will be positive or negative for their relationship.

References:
Clayton, R. B., Nagurney, A., & Smith, J. R. (2013). Cheating, Breakup, and Divorce: Is Facebook Use to Blame?. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(10), 717-720. Retrieved from: http://www.cs.vu.nl/~eliens/serious/local/cyber/paper-facebook-breakup.pdf

Lenhart, A., Anderson, M. & Smith, a. (2015). Teens, Technology and Romantic Relationships :Social Media and Romantic Relationships. Retrieved from:  http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/01/social-media-and-romantic-relationships/

Lundquist, A. R., Lefebvre, E. J., & Garramone, S. J. (2014). Smartphones: Fulfilling the Need for Immediacy in Everyday Life, but at What Cost?. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 4 (2). Retrieved from: http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_4_No_2_Special_Issue_January_2014/6.pdf

Wilkerson, K. T. (2017). "Social Networking Sites and Romantic Relationships: Effects on Development, Maintenance, and Dissolution of Relationships." Inquiries Journal, 9(03). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/a?id=1576




Comentarios

Publicar un comentario

Entradas más populares de este blog

For Further Research

Imagen
If you want to know more of this topic, here I will let you three cool pages where you can find more about. Teens, Technology and Romantic Relationships: From flirting to breaking up, social media and mobile phones are woven into teens’ romantic lives by Pew Research Center. This is a series of studies that focus in more aspects and with a scientific approach to the use of social media and mobile phones and the effect on romantic relationships. The amount of information provided from this organization is quite interesting and pleasing to read if you like the facts more than opinions. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/01/teens-technology-and-romantic-relationships/ Gemma Styles This is a columnist from The Brief with some post related to the use of technology and its impact to social relationships. It is written more in a day-to-day communication way rather than from a scientific approach. http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/author/gemma-styles Social Media Impact...
Leer más

What the Experts Say I

Imagen
Jim Taylor  in his article  “ Is Technology Creating a Family Divide?”, published in 2013,   focuses on the effect that social media has on family relationships. Is normal that as many aspects of life change as time passes by, families also suffer changes. Nowadays the specific role of men as  providers and women as housewives that can be seen in television shows aired during the 50’s and 60’s or in those set during those times such as “The wonder years”, progressively changed into a society where both men and women are part of the working world to the point where it has become strange to find full time housewives among middle and lower class families. So, if changes are part of the pass of time, what is different these days? They key is the “progression” of the change, Taylor (2013) points out that now the fast advance of technology causes a scenario where younger family members were born and raised surrounded by technology meaning up to a certain poi...
Leer más

What the Experts Say II

Imagen
Wilkerson (2017) focuses on the effect of social media in romantic relationships and gives an interesting point of view. Is not a one side effect,it can have positive and negative effects where the personal traits of those involved in a romantic way plays a key role in how the effects will be. When there's a mutual understanding social media has a positive effect since it becomes a tool for communication and sharing memories of their experiences and by consequence can give a bigger importance to the relationships since the fact that they are together becomes widely public On the other hand if one or both of the involved are insecure social media can be quite negative due to the possibility of developing an obsessive behavior to monitor the partner’s social media profiles that can ultimately lead to jealousy and misunderstandings that damage the relationship. The full article named “ Social Networking and Romantic Relationships: Effecst on Development, Maintance, and D...
Leer más