Is Social media bad for relationships?
Nowadays, social media is a well-liked networking platform. Social media enables users to communicate
with their friends, family, and individuals all over the world about their interests, feelings, and even
exchange information. However, relationships can suffer greatly from the use of social media. Prolonged
use of social media can negatively impact quality time, create conflict and result in negative interactions
between siblings, parents and their children, or individuals in romantic relationships. While some claim
that using social media can help people stay in touch with distant friends and family members or
improve communication with their spouses, and kids, there are versatile impacts that can have a
damaging impact on relationships. Social media use might result in unhappy relationships and less time
spent with loved ones in person.
Social media has a lot of good things going for it, but it can also ruin relationships. Time spent with a
spouse, family, or friends has decreased as a result of social media use in relationships, among other
things. In a 2021 study, researchers used Instagram and the time-tracking feature of the app to find out
more about how social media and relationship satisfaction are related. They discovered that social
media use resulted in increased conflict and unfavorable outcomes, as well as a decline in relationship
satisfaction. One negative impact is the loss of interaction and bonding between people. For example,
when the family members are supposed to stay focused and enjoy eating at the dining table, the
children are now on their phone continually scrolling social media apps, these could ruin the family
bonding, where they supposedly happily eat and ask how each other's day went.
Some research has linked social media use with increased jealousy and insecurities. A 2013 study found
that, among couples who had been together for less than three years, spending more time on Facebook
was linked with more "Facebook-related conflict." Partners may get upset seeing their partner like or
comment on other people's posts, stoking concerns that their partner is interested in other people (or
worse, is already cheating), and making them question their own selves, like their physical aspects.
These can result in one being more likely to get stuck in a cycle of endless scrolling to keep an eye on his
or her partner's activities. Also, social media shows a lot of "looks like a perfect couple and relationship,"
which is not always a good view for every partner. For example, social media can contribute to
unhealthy comparison and unrealistic expectations for what relationships are supposed to be like, and
couples may spend more time curating an "image" of who they are than focusing on the relationship
itself. These can lead to missed connections, jealousy, conflict arising from disagreements or hurt
feelings, and negative comparisons.
Social media has lots of bad impact for any relationship. Abbas et al, said; The level of bonding will
decline after a short period and eventually affect the stability of the relationship. The occurrence of
these challenges makes it impossible for the individuals involved in such a relationship to engage in
sustainable social exchange.
The above analysis, are some insights of the severe impact of social media on relationships between
couples, siblings, and parents and their kids. It can ruin family bonding, friends interaction and couples
expectations and trust for each other. Personally, I'm experiencing some of the bad effects of social
media. I'm almost a slave of my phone, I consume a lot of time scrolling through social media apps, to
the point that I've been neglecting my responsibilities in our house. I am the first born, I should be a role
model for my younger sisters, but due to social media addiction, I forgot to do house chores and even
being disrespectful to my parents for i've been ignoring their commands of the things that I should do.
These things lead to me being scolded and becoming a bad influence on my siblings. Other than this, I've
encountered some friendships that were ruined because of social media and there are so many not so
great things social media can bring to any kind of relationships.