There have been a lot of studies about relationships and social media already. And if there's one thing that we've known through them, it's that how deceiving social media can be.
We always see a ton of "happy couples" on our feeds. We even get annoyed at them sometimes because we see their mushy posts almost every single hour, and we can't help but wish that they'd just use Messenger to declare their feelings instead. But in this new research published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, you might want to rethink about how you feel about them and give them a little sympathy instead. (via HelloGiggles.com)
The study involved 108 couples who are listed as "in a relationship" on Facebook. They were asked to keep a daily journal for two weeks where they'll also write down how secured they felt about their relationship and how much Facebook interaction they've had.
The analysis showed that on days when the person feels insecure about their relationship, they post more updates (photos, status messages) on Facebook.
*DEEP SIGH*
This is why Facebook posts or social media updates in general aren't really measures of how happy couples are. This isn't the first study to indicate this, too. There's a Finnish study that people use "fake components" online to meet social expectations. Another study from Albright College also found that Facebook is used as something to monitor their partner's activity (OMG!) and give them assurance that their relationship is doing okay.
Isn't this a bit saddening? We know we've said this a lot of times before already, but sometimes all you need is to just go offline and focus on what you have. Most of the time, it gets too noisy online that we forget to focus and invest our time on the more important things offline—our relationships.
So the next time you're annoyed at another "happy couple" on social media, just know that they may be having a hard time and hit the like button; they might need it at that moment.
From The Candy Bulletin Community
.jpg)
