Oh man. Relationships are harder to be in today than ever. With the addition of social media and online profiles and dating its easy to get yourself into trouble with your significant other. Being in a relationship takes work and effort. Josh Gressel, Ph.D. (2019) believes it takes conscious and sustained effort to keep the connection between partners strong and growing. This is becoming increasingly more hard with the amount of time people are spending on social media. Whether people are using it for connecting with high school friends, keeping up with their hobbies on group pages or following celebrities, our screen time as a society has increased and continues to remain on the rise. A huge part of relationship issues is due to mistrust and jealousy that stems from misunderstandings from social media.
“Why did you like her/his picture”, “Why are you friends with her/him”, “Do you think she/he is prettier/more handsome” are problem questions most people have been faced with during their time on social media. The jealousy that significant others face and are exposed to while on social media can be very damaging to the relationship. Instead of sitting down and calmly discussing the issue at hand, most people’s initial reaction is to over-think, misread, and start an argument.
Josh Gressel, Ph.D. (2019) discussed the importance of not being critical or criticizing your partner as it will do nothing to strengthen the relationship. The jealousy and arguments can be avoided if the partners are truthful, open and honest about their expectations early in the relationship and have the similar-to-me mindset. If one partner does not like the other partner to look at certain images and they both agree to avoid looking at certain content it works out better than if one partner does not agree. People are more attracted to people who have a similar-to-me effect where they have a lot in common and agree to many things together. It makes the issue of social media less of an issue if the couples can honestly communicate their feelings, can empathize with the partner and come to a respectful understanding together as partners.
Gressel, J. (2019, August 4). The Fatigue of Long-Term Relationships. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/putting-psyche-back-psychotherapy/201908/the-fatigue-long-term-relationships