How Does Social Media Affect Romantic Relationships?

Is your significant other the person right in front of you or the people on the other side of your phone screen? The sharing of romantic relationships over social media is dramatically increasing. In fact, when scrolling down a teenager’s twitter timeline majority of the tweets seen are most likely to be related to romance. Social media shares both negative and positive roles in the world of romance. It can be viewed as a distraction and a cry for social approval, but it is also a convenient form of communication. According to David Wygant’s article “Social Media Is a Romance Contraceptive,” of the New York Times, social media is a distraction from potential relationships. People are constantly checking their feeds to find out and share the latest news. Wygant shares the story of his observation in a coffee bar. He witnessed a woman posting a status on Facebook saying “When am I going to meet a nice guy? It seems like all the good men are taken” while the guy standing next to her was admiring her. She was too busy updating her Facebook to realize that she had caught the eye of a gentleman. We, as a society, are so absorbed in our phones, in the “imaginary world” as Wygant describes it, that we fail to be conscious of the …show more content…
Jenna Wortham expresses this opinion in her essay “I Had a Nice Time with You Tonight. On the App.” saying “it’s [technology] just an appetizer that can delight and satisfy until the main course arrives” (396). It makes it convenient during the times when two lovers cannot be in front of each other. You don’t lose yourself when talking with others through social media. In fact, Wortham addresses how many emotionally intimate and honest conversations that she’s experienced have happened using technology (396). It can also stimulate the desire for face-to-face interactions, especially after long periods of not being