Hearing about nonstop plans to Netflix and Chill, seeing relationships form because “He liked all of my Instagrams”, and realizing that giving affection is now posting a #WCW post and sending kissy emojis makes me want to rip my hair out and cry.Our generation is ruining what relationships are and should be; everybody seems to be more obsessed with changing their relationship status on Facebook than actually changing their relationship status in real life. Saying those three amazing words has turned into three abbreviated letters and typed over text.Now, I’m not saying my relationship with my boyfriend is any better than other relationship—if anything it’s just as bad. Social media is murdering my relationship and the security in my relationship.I feel like these days, I hear more and more relationships ending because someone cheated. And if you ask me, in this generation everybody cheats, which sounds like a huge assumption—so let me explain myself. This generation has not only redefined relationships, it has also redefined cheating. Cheating doesn’t mean it has to be in person. Cheating doesn’t have to be kissing, or cuddling, or going out on dates.To me, cheating is constantly texting other people, having people of the opposite sex on your top three on Snapchat. Cheating is feeling the need to hide conversations from your significant other, cheating is liking other girls bathing suit pictures and other boys shirtless selfie.Yes, for all I know when my boyfriend says that the girl he just got a Snapchat from is “just his friend from class”, he could be telling me the complete truth and it could be completely innocent. However, he also could be sending her photos when I’m not around with captions saying flirty things, and asking her to meet up to do homework…or “homework”. Worst of all, she could be sending him naughty photos and he could be accepting it. He could be reasoning that because he isn’t the one initiating it or asking for it, and it isn’t in person and he isn’t sending things back, that it isn’t cheating. But it is. Trust is a big thing in a relationship, and I know that it’s earned when it’s proved. However, I’ve been finding it harder and harder to find that trust with my honey, and I feel a psycho girlfriend when I say that. Although it is hard not to feel like you’re going crazy when you see a girl’s name show up on his phone.But hey, what do I know?Maybe I am a psycho girlfriend. Or, maybe I’m just stuck in a horrible, social media crazed generation. Or maybe, just maybe I love my boyfriend so much, I can’t imagine what would happen if he actually was social media cheating. Pray for all the relationships in 2016, and pray that social media cheating stops.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winthrop chapter.