‘Tis the season of inevitably questioning your current relationship status. It seems that February goes one of two ways: either DTR or break all ties and book your trip to Cabo for spring break. However, in the midst of determining if your valentines is going to turn into a galentines let’s not forget the impact social media has had on our generation’s relationships. It is undeniable that unwavering trust in a person of interest and simplicity of dating have been completely compromised by platforms like Instagram and Snapchat (never forget our access to everyone’s top best friends???) Pretty much, our smartphones have unleashed a gateway of unlimited media and data about each of our peers, and, even more overreaching, on strangers near and far, leaving us twisted on how we are to express our true selves in any encounter with a relationship. We were not the stalkers or psychopaths social media has so casually made us out to be now. Chivalry and quality time is of the past while romance found in tinder dates and liking someone’s old posts on Instagram is of the present.
TaylorAnn Masuda, an LMU senior and engineer major, expresses her fair share of struggles with social media. “I can check details about someone’s life that I wouldn’t be able to do without social media platforms like checking followers or seeing what they’re doing when they didn’t explicitly tell you they were doing that,” she says, “And it’s crazy that it isn’t weird to be blocking people from your story on snapchat just so people don’t intrude on your whereabouts or what you’re doing.”
Jordon Block, an LMU senior and theatre major, also comments “When your boyfriend won’t be the first like or comment on your photo because he’s afraid of looking whipped,” and, “We all have our phones on our person 24/7 so if someone isn’t responding they for sure saw it and are choosing to ignore you.”
There you have it – social media is more often than not an enemy rather than a friend in the pursuance of a significant other. Stop waiting on someone to respond even though he viewed your snapchat story, quit tracking their every move on Find My Friends, and leave some space for pleasant surprises, mystery, and excitement in discovering someone’s character and personality.