Social media is a huge part of society today. People are constantly on their phones, viewing the latest news or liking viral posts. While social media can offer many positive aspects, it also presents numerous negative ones. There is a handful of negative information online about relationships and how they should be. These videos and posts, which illustrate a ‘picture-perfect’ relationship, discuss the rules of relationships and how they should appear. The people who watch and view these posts can be influenced by them, which can create conflict in their relationship.
Rules of relationships on social media present a big issue for personal relationships today. “I have definitely seen some weird rules. Things like when a guy will tell a girl what to wear, or a girl will break up with their boyfriend for a TikTok trend, all of it is really weird,” said freshman Aryanna Gardener. “Some trends tend to leave one’s partner feeling upset, or they put their standards at an unreasonable height.”
What Gardener said really highlights how following rules seen on social media can hurt a relationship. When seeing couples on social media talk about their rules in their relationship, they may seem to work out for the couple, but we never really see the full picture. Many of these rules on social media have included toxicity and unrealistic standards that may follow people into their personal relationships if they choose to implement them.
Social media has also normalized many negative things in relationships. “Many people have a rule of needing their partner’s passwords for their accounts to make sure they aren’t looking at things they shouldn’t be or messaging people they shouldn’t be,” said freshman Liliana Norris. “While I don’t completely disagree with this, I don’t think you should be in a relationship with someone if you can’t trust them with what they view or who they talk to.” Dakota Rohrer, a junior at Alonso High School, also touched on this topic, saying, “I’ve seen guys try to claim cheating is okay, and I don’t agree with it.” These negative components of relationships becoming so normalized, such as needing your partner’s passwords and cheating, can break trust in a relationship and can cause it to unravel and fall apart.
In addition, people showing the negatives of their relationships online can have a negative impact on the personal relationships of others. “People on social media who share their experiences of their relationships are sharing how it was toxic, how they had a messy breakup, fallout, and such. This can lead the viewers to set their standards low and to expect a poor relationship for the future,” said freshman Jediah Mkparu. When people who are beginning to experience relationships come across these videos going over the negative outcomes of a relationship, it can cause them to fear that the same things may happen in their relationship.
When it comes to wanting a positive and healthy relationship or setting rules and boundaries within a relationship, it is best not to be influenced by what relationships on social media tell you is right. While it can sometimes be helpful, it causes more bad than good in a relationship. It is always best for couples to do what they agree on and what works best for them.
