Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA
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The Effect of Social Media on Romantic Relationships
Joe Byrne
Nicki Childers
Tyler Heiss
Christopher McDermott
Robin Sweeney
Illinois State University School of Communication
Fell Hall 434
Campus Box 4480
Normal, IL 61790-4650
Dr. Daniel Cochece Davis
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Romantic Social Media
Abstract
Although social media has been around for the most part, since humans have existed, it has
developed significantly with the changing times. Many areas of social media have been studied
and social media as a whole is a very broad discussion topic. The contents of the literature
studied within this review will discuss specifically how the new age of social media (e.g.,
Facebook, Twitter, etc…) have played an important role in romantic relationships between
individuals, and those media outlets’ effect on their relationships. Many theories will be
presented in the text as well as the conclusions that researchers have come up with based on their
studies within this field and specifically the subtopic that is in question. Within all research, there
will undoubtedly be areas that will be challenged by others; those will be discussed. In
conclusion, the material will be synthesized and gaps will be examined within the research and
then presented to readers in the hope of having a clear and concise understanding of this area of
study within interpersonal communication.
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Introduction
Social media affects each and every one of us on a regular basis. Humans have been, and
still are constantly communicating; forever in touch with one another to the point where it has
come to not putting the smartphones down or shutting the televisions off. The role of the Internet
in the daily life of virtually everyone has changed drastically in a very short period of time.
There are many conventional wisdoms dating from five to ten years back that have become the
complete opposite in today’s world of what they used to be. Social networking sites seemed to
hold somewhat of a “fad” status, meaning that people really did not believe they would last very
long. Since then, the invention of utilizing these media to find somebody of similar status as
oneself has been seen, and meetings can be arranged solely over cyberspace. One can only
imagine how this was seen by others; it started out as something that was seen as embarrassing
and people did not speak of it if they were the ones utilizing these media. A dramatic shift in this
belief has been seen though very recently; it is now seen as a common way to approach someone,
as well as something that is less embarrassing to use as it once was when it first surfaced. But
what happens when one has met a potential mate? The dating site gets put to the side, but the
users still utilize other social media applications common in today’s society. Answers to many
questions regarding what role social media will play in a romantic relationship; including the
positive effects, negative effects and demographics will be answered.
Literature Review
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The purpose of this study is to find out social media tendencies, and how social media
use in general, affects romantic relationships. Research on this topic was scattered throughout the
1990’s, but over the past decade, there has been a large growth of interest in this area and an
increase of published literature within the past 10 years due to the advancements in technology.
Many scholars theorized that interacting by computer-mediated communication (CMC) was
impersonal by nature. There is a need to study this area because of how huge of an impact media
has on the demographic being studied; this is the generation of updating status’ on Facebook,
posting photos to Instagram, tweeting thoughts, virtually growing toward a world of primarily
CMC. This continuous wave of online interactions has driven many individuals to wonder how
this common type of communicating affects other aspects of their lives. It has become a
normality to contact other people via social networking applications and this causes a need for
further research and data collection. Although in today’s society it is socially acceptable to meet
someone through a dating or social media site, this is a trend that has changed and become
popular over the past decade before it was so acceptable in society. With this generation rapidly
and continuously growing each and every day, the need to study this area has only enhanced.
There have been extensive research findings in this area as social media in general is a
widely popular topic, especially in today’s day and age. Dating applications though, are
relatively new and are still being researched and reviewed which is why there is such a need to
study it; because it is relevant to us and this generation. There have been consistent findings in a
positive impact that social media has had on relationships. One hefty gap in this area of study is
accuracy. With surveys, one cannot be certain that the answers are genuine mainly because one
may not know who they are, since it is an anonymous survey, or if the participant does not
provide answers to certain questions. Researchers have been able to find new ways of gauging
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and collecting data within this field of research, which expands far past the traditional survey
method. Another problem researchers might be faced with in these experiments is providing too
much information to the participant before the experiment begins which will allow for more bias
to be presented. It is important to dive further into the research that has already been found and
focus on the ages of 18-25 and exclusively to those who are enrolled at a large, Mid-western
university. It is important to know how social media affects these people particularly because it
is interesting to see how these platforms affect people in this age group and at this university.
The goal is to report whether or not application use affects those who are in romantic
relationships. The point of distributing surveys is to get a written response and reveal participants
thoughts on whether or not they believe social media has a positive or negative effect on
romantic relationships.
Positive Effects:
A social networking site is an online community where a person receives the opportunity
to construct a public or private online profile within a defined system; these sites include
applications like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder and Twitter. The users then make
connections or friends with other people with whom they share the same connections or the same
common interests (Mod, 2010). For example, Facebook users upload a profile picture and share
self-descriptive information. Self –descriptive information consists of a variety of categories that
include common interests, favorite music, movies and quotes. All this information given reveals
a lot about one’s personality. This makes it fairly easy for people to come in contact with other
people that share similar interests, especially if that person finds the other person attractive
(Ivcevic & Ambady, 2012). People then view these profiles and can then communicate with their
list of connections. People also have the option to view and potentially communicate with
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someone that they are not connected to within that structured system (Johnston, et al, 2013).
Essentially, online social networks are virtual communities in which people interact through
computer-mediated relationships (Johnston, et al, 2013). Social networking also allows people to
share common interests with each other worldwide; people can create connections and
relationships even when they are separated geographically (Johnston, et al, 2013). Users have a
combination of what is classified as weak and close tie relationships. Weak ties consist of friends
whom you have a distance link to, somebody you do not know well, or somebody you do not
know at all. Close ties consist of friends that you hold a close relationship with (Mod, 2010).
Creating weak ties is one of the main reasons people use social media outlets like Facebook
(Mod, 2010). These sites encourage peer-to-peer communication (Peterson, et al, 2014), and they
play a crucial role in maintaining long distance friendships (Muise, Christofides, & Desmarais,
2009). Anderson’s research presented many great points in the research findings. Earlier studies
of CMC paved the way for scholars to theorize that interacting in computer-mediated
environments was impersonal by nature and appropriate primarily for task-related versus
interpersonal related goals (Anderson, 2005). A study of online relationship satisfaction
conducted by Anderson and Emmers-Sommer, a survey of 114 people who were in exclusively
online romantic relationships found that relationship satisfaction was predicted by high levels of
intimacy, trust and communication satisfaction (Anderson & Emmers-Sommer, 2006). The
journal article by Pauley and Emmers-Sommer was also very useful for this research. According
to their journal, a study reported that chat-based CMC sparked more participant self-disclosure in
a laboratory interaction than face-to-face (FtF) communication or video-conferencing (Joinson,
2001). Along with that, another study also reported that because emotional self-disclosure is
more important to the experience of intimacy than factual self-disclosure…online relationships
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often have a higher degree of intimacy than offline relationships (Ben-Ze’ev, 2003). This
contradicts the hypothesis discussed in this paper; looking back in the introduction, one will see
that many people self-disclose because no one is around to voice their opinions, making online
relationships positive and more intimate. In the article written by Conye, one will see how CMC
can have a positive and negative effect on romantic relationships. This follows along with the
hypothesis by explaining the possible misunderstandings in text communication online as well as
the increasing feelings of jealousy due to one’s Facebook use. This article also combats the
hypothesis by presenting studies where no negative effect was found on relationships due to
Internet conversation. (Conye, Stockdale, Busby, Iverson & Grant, 2011)
Negative Effects:
One must keep in mind that social media is not limited to applications on a phone or
computer such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc… Social media also pertains to the Internet
as a whole and also includes television. Television, more importantly has been shown to be the
cause of overly optimistic romantic expectations (Segrin & Nabi, 2002; Hetsroni, 2012). When
associating television consumption with happiness and satisfaction they are, for the most part,
always negative (Holmes & Johnson, 2009). The reality presented on television often does not
align with the “objective” reality of life off the screen. Logically this suggests that portrayals of
relationships are similarly skewed (Osborn, 2012). Through these mediums a reflection of a
certain view of reality is portrayed, causing viewers to be exposed to what is not always
consistent with the “objective” external reality. Consequently, it is assumed that viewers who
spend more time with this “television reality” are more likely to espouse the values, images and
ideologies reflected in it to view the real world through this skewed lens (Osborn, 2012). It is
along with this that most people believe that television also has a skewed view on romantic
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relationships. Research utilizing attitude measures, conversely, has primarily concluded that
television is cultivating negative ideas about relationships (Osborn, 2012). Basically, heavy
viewing of romantically themed programs is cultivating negative ideas on relationships, and
causing this viewing to correlate with negative/harmful attitudes regarding romantic
relationships. There are numerous theories and methodologies that correlate to this topic area.
The Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT) relates to this research topic in which the optimal goal
in relationships is to maximize trust and dependency (This theory explains how social media use
can have an effect on the quality of one’s romantic relationship (Berger & Calabrese, 2011) URT
states that the major goal in relationship development is to optimize the level certainty, but as a
whole, it seems like social media outlets create uncertainty and essentially hurt romantic
relationships (Pauley & Emmers-Sommer, 2007). URT states that the major goal in relationship
development is to optimize the level of certainty, but as a whole, it seems like social media
outlets create uncertainty and essentially hurt romantic relationships (Pauley & EmmersSommer, 2007). Donn and Sherman conducted a study in which they examined attitudes
concerning online dating websites and people who engage in online relationships and found that
the impressions of such sites and the formation of online relationships, in general, were relatively
negative. Participants also reported being suspicious of potential online deception, greater
likelihood of safety concerns with an online versus offline partner and that people seeking a
relationship online are likely to be “desperate” (Donn & Sherman, 2002). To go along with that,
in another study of interpersonal interaction in online chat rooms, some participants stated that
online relationships lacked credibility and were problematic, and that those people who formed
them were likely to be shy people with (offline) relationship problems, lonely, and/or interested
only in possible sexual activity (Anderson, 2005). Another valid point that Wildermuth’s study
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showed was that people who were not involved in online relationships attached a strong,
negative stigma to online romantic relationships (Anderson, 2005). People who are in online
romantic relationships are affected by the strong opinions of those that are not in online romantic
relationships. These pieces of information became very useful to the research; it showed how it
was for and against the hypothesis. In one case, online relationships are seen as very intimate and
that satisfaction was high. On the contrary, other peoples’ opinions on online relationships are
deemed as negative, which is what is predicted in the hypothesis. However, problems arise even
though these sites are very beneficial to online communication. Muise, et al defined jealousy as
complex thoughts, feelings and actions which lead to threats to one’s self-esteem and/or threats
to the existence or quality of one’s relationship (Muise, et al, 2009). They further stated that
Facebook causes jealousy and negatively affects romantic and sexual relationships (Muise, et al,
2009). There is a convincing association between time spent on Facebook and jealousy-related
feelings and behaviors experienced on Facebook. In the Muise et al sample, women spent
significantly more time on Facebook than men did. Women also scored significantly higher on
Facebook jealousy (Muise, et al, 2009). Studies showed that females who spent more time on the
Internet were less satisfied with their relationships. Females are also more likely to use the
Internet to satisfy their social needs when compared to males (Peterson, et al, 2014). For
example, when a female is unsatisfied with her romantic relationship she may turn to the Internet
for support and increase her use. When a male is unsatisfied with his relationship, it is more
probable for him to get support offline, or end the relationship all-together (Peterson, et al,
2014). Obviously, some people are more susceptible to experience jealousy when compared to
others, but Facebook creates suspicion in relationships (Muise, et al, 2009). Both self-esteem
and trust determine the amount of jealousy experienced after something threats a relationship
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(Muise, et al, 2009). Levels of trust and self-esteem are associated with jealousy, therefore low
levels of trust relates to more intense and frequent experiences of jealousy. Additionally, people
in committed relationships experience less jealously than those in newer, more casual
relationships simply because the level of trust is obviously more high (Muise, et al, 2009).
Hand’s article takes into account intimacy and couple’s satisfaction associated with social
network use and discusses how feelings of jealousy and dissatisfaction are related to excessive
Facebook use. Along with its negative effects on emotional closeness, the article explains how a
fear of FtF contact has developed in part to excessive social media use. This reading both follows
and combats the hypothesis. Although multiple negative effects are discussed, one will also be
presented with findings that show gains in psychological wellbeing and interpersonal
relationships (Hand, Thomas, Buboltz, Deemer & Buyanjargal, 2013). In the Cosmopolitan
article by Stolz, one is provided with a first-hand description of the negative effects social media
had on an individual relationship. This includes the feelings of jealousy, the intentional posting
of relationship-damaging things and the viewing on both current and ex-mates (Stolz, 2014).
However, with the continuation of heavy Internet use problems arise. Loneliness, physical
illness, dissatisfaction with romantic relationships and depression are all associated with heavy
Internet use (Peterson, et al, 2014). Reports show that there is a link to heavy Internet use and a
person having low self-esteem. Additionally, these heavy Internet users are more likely to be
socially constrained (Peterson, et al, 2014). Throughout the working paper written by Garimella,
one will see how relationships are affected on a separate social media outlet, Twitter. This
explains couple’s likelihood to break up due to what is posted on Twitter. Along with this, the
fallout and effects of breaking up is discussed closely. This more closely agrees with the
hypothesis by providing the reader with other negative effects a social media outlet had on a
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romantic relationship (Garimella, Weber & Cin, 2014). Fox’s article on the role of Facebook in a
romantic relationship discussed the idea of Facebook “creeping,” or viewing people’s profiles
without the persons whose profile it is having any idea. This can apply to one’s significant other,
friends, or complete strangers. This article also talks about the idea that photos are Facebook
users primary supplier of information and that the “about me” section is often not read or taken
into account when adding perspective friends. The article follows the hypothesis by introducing
the “creeping” idea or spying on one’s boyfriend or girlfriend as well as other negative effects of
Facebook and social media in a romantic relationship (Fox, Warber, & Makstaller, p.773, 2013).
An article based on social media infidelity provided negative outcomes as well as numbers
showing just how much social media infidelity has affected the romantic relationships of those
who use social media frequently. It also explains how social media infidelity has increased as
more and more outlets became available. The article sheds light on inappropriate messages and
comments used by one or both members of the relationship. This closely follows the hypothesis
by providing concrete details on the negative effects of social media in a closed relationship
(Cravens, Leckie, & Whiting, 2013).
Demographics
Internet use is prevalent in almost every college students’ lives. Ninety-four percent of
college students stated that they spend at least one full hour on the Internet each day (Peterson,
Aye, & Wheeler, 2014). Going along with that, 53 percent of college students are heavy users of
the Internet; meaning they use the Internet for three or more hours each day (Peterson, et al,
2014). Facebook currently has 1 billion users, 86 percent of those users are between the ages 18
and 29 (Peterson, Aye, & Wheeler, 2014). So as Internet use continues to grow worldwide, the
use of social media correlates positively; meaning as the Internet continues to grow, the use of
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social media outlets continues to grow as well. Obviously, Facebook is an important part of the
daily lives of college students and is an essential part of their college experience (Mod, 2010). In
regards to personal relationships, more so with the millennial generation, these outlets as well as
texting will most likely be the communication forms associated with asking a coworker on a
date; doing this is deemed safer to them because nobody is around to hear a rejection, if there is
one (Ruiz, 2011). Internet use is convincingly lower for participants who are in a romantic
relationships (Peterson, et al, 2014). For example, Facebook users who were in a committed
relationship were less active on Facebook than those who were not in a committed relationship
(Peterson, et al, 2014). Throughout Peterson’s article on Internet use and romantic relationships
among college students, a better understanding is provided on just how often the Internet is used
by people in this group’s desired demographic. It also provides one with each gender’s approach
to social media use and the pros and cons that come with it. The reading mentioned the use of
Facebook in divorce numbers and discontent with one’s relationship, which agrees with the
hypothesis, but its mention of improved peer-to-peer contact does not (Peterson, Aye & Wheeler,
2014).
In summary, there is a specific demographic targeted here and there are both positive and
negative affects social media has on romantic relationships. One will see instances in the
research that both combat and follow the hypothesis. The idea of social media use providing a
higher degree of intimacy and relationship satisfaction combated what had originally had been
believed. However, the recurring mentions of jealousy, uncertainty, suspicion and
miscommunication further the idea that social media’s negative effect on relationship satisfaction
is indeed evident. There has been research collected in these areas, which provides an advantage
for opportunities for possible future research on this area.
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Hypothesis
Social media has changed significantly, but has always existed in some form. The general
perceived definition of social media has changed significantly with the advance of technology in
societies. Again it must be understood that social media encompasses a wide range of mediums
and is not limited to Facebook, Twitter, etc…. It may also include newspapers, the Internet and
television. How these mediums affect human behavior is discussed widely, and to understand the
“big picture,” there is a need to examine each individual area. Within the research, it is
hypothesized that the behavior within a romantic relationship was affected negatively the more a
user consumed social media. Within this area of study, it has been discussed that Facebook is the
most familiar form of social media the younger generation. What was found is that relationships
are generally positive when the consumption of these mediums is higher. The majority of the
research being discussed in this text has inferred that the initial hypothesis is not necessarily
correct, but has been found that relationships are happier in most cases with the consumption of
theses social media outlets.
Methodology
There are so many questions and theories regarding the connection between the stability of a
romantic relationship and the usage amount of social media. To answer these questions,
extensive empirical research is required in each of the areas of concern, as one research study
will not answer everything. The research group predicts that heavy use of social media will affect
a romantic relationship in a negative way. To be more specific, there is a belief that the increased
use of social media between partners in a romantic relationship will lead to jealousy, anger and
general dissatisfaction with the relationship as a whole.
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The research group will distribute surveys at a large university campus in the Midwest.
The research group will distribute surveys in lobby areas of academic lecture hall buildings on
campus. These buildings were Fell Hall, Schroeder Hall, State Farm Hall of Business and Milner
Library lobby. These buildings were chosen for specific reasons in order to access as many
potential participants as possible. These four academic buildings are usually crowded and their
lobby areas offer a lot of space for students to interact or meetings areas. Distribution will be
located just inside the main entrance door of each building since there is the most student traffic
around those entrances.
This study will be conducted in the Fall semester of 2014. November is a good month for
conducting this survey since its topic relates to romantic relationships and requires an amount of
self-disclosure while answering certain questions. Knowing this, the month of November was
chosen since it is a month that does not contain any significant holidays related to romance, for
example Valentine’s Day falls within the month of February. Knowing that Valentine’s Day is
approaching, a participant may feel confident or unsatisfied with their current relationship status
and this may affect the survey results. Along with the month of November, the dates chosen to
distribute surveys will be on Monday the 17th, Tuesday the 18th and Wednesday the 19th. These
days of the week are most productive for students and a majority of students spend time on
campus and frequently enter the four specific buildings on campus. These dates will help provide
better quality results rather than on a Friday since most students either do not have class on
campus, or are uninterested in participating in any additional survey experiments once the
weekend approaches.
This study is focused on participants aged between 18 and 25 years old. It is required for
the participants to be a student at the university in order for their answers to be considered within
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the total results. No particular major is required to take the survey; students with any majors are
able to participate. The goal is to locate potential participants who use, or are at least familiar
with, the Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tinder and Twitter social media applications. Before
any research can be conducted, the participants are going to be informed on the survey via an
Informed Consent, which states that participation is completely voluntary and anonymous. 500
participants are required to conduct this study. Surveys will be taken only individually, not with
a group, and are including both male and female participants. After surveys are completed and
collected, researchers will inform all participants the purpose of the study and how exactly their
anonymous responses would be stored, interpreted and recorded.
The research tool that will be used in this study will be a paper copy, double-sided survey
to distribute, as well as large envelopes and a locked safe for data collection and storage. The
type of statistical analysis used in the survey was a correlational analysis. The focus is to
determine the correlation established between the independent variable (social media use) and
the dependent variable (relationship satisfaction).
Analysis
Before a research study can be conducted, the researchers must wait for an IRB
correspondence approving the research proposal. Until then, it can be speculated what the
anticipated results from the research study will be. As stated in the methodology, a survey tool
will be utilized to conduct the research. How one will speculate these results will come from the
literature studied in this area and what the general consensus seems to be. The initial hypothesis
stated that romantic relationships are negatively affected by social media applications; more
specifically, will have less satisfaction within those relationships. With this in mind, it is
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believed that the results of this study will reflect those of other research within the literature
reviewed. There are caveats to this however. Results will always vary based on the demographics
that are being studied. There will be a focus on a demographic age of 18 years of age to 25 years
of age. Doing this will narrow results to a specific generation whereas the majority of the
literature gave an overall consensus within all age groups.
Even though this seems to be a rather specific category/topic of research, it can always
get smaller. Meaning that there is always room for more specific research regarding a specific
subtopic within a given topic. The research will be focused on an age group; future research that
may be conducted could take an even more specific approach such as surveying males only, or
females only. More research could be conducted on different age groups other than the one that
is being surveyed. Age groups all together could be taken out of the equation and separate
participant groups by generation (as in finding the beginning year for a particular generation).
There will always be room for more research in the future, and each study similar to this,
implicates such because it is only one element from a much broader area of research.
The hypothesis stated that the increased use of social media applications while being in a
romantic relationship would have negative effects on a person’s relationship as a whole.
However, social media use has both a positive and negative effect on romantic relationships, but
it seems as if the negative effects outweigh the positive effects. As the group conducted research,
questions were asked in regards to specific social media applications and the frequency of use
when visiting these sites. Based on the frequency of use it can be interpreted whether or not a
person is a heavy user, or an expert when it comes to social media use. One may also interpret
which age groups use social media applications more than others. The number of
followers/friends/matches link to the amount of time spent on the applications. Therefore, if a
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person spends a lot of time on an application, they connect with more people than a person who
spends little to no time on the application. The anticipated results show that the ease of access to
the various social media outlets may be the main reason for the problems to arise. These
networks allow a person to come in contact with prior partners, or desired partners with the click
of a button. The assumption was made that if a person responded yes to the question regarding
the experience of negative effects within their relationship because of social media use, that that
person would be significantly more likely to answer yes to being unfaithful to their significant
other. Those who are not in romantic relationships are a lot more likely to respond yes to the
likelihood of social media contributing to a person cheating simply because those who are in
romantic relationships are not willing to accept the fact that an everyday application can lead to
infidelity. Overall, the research group contributed a significant amount of information to a fairly
new research topic. This research can help predict and explain the behaviors associated with
extensive and prolonged social media use. As societies continue to see the Internet use rise, they
will continue to see the use of social media networks rise. It is inevitable that problems will be
associated with the use of these sites. From the research, one can conclude that if a person
minimizes their social media use while in a romantic relationship then that person will be less
likely to experience relationship problems associated with the use of social media applications.
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