Social Media is Ruining Your Relationship (In Real Time)

Status update on your relationship: It's complicated

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Jay Z and Beyonce
(Image credit: Marie Claire)

Don't compare yourself to Jay and Bey!

Admit it. You are on Facebook stalking your boyfriend's kind-of-hot ex-girlfriend. She is ruining your relationship, but not in real life. Our Brit friends across the pond are reporting that there is no longer a seven year itch when it comes to bouncing from a relationship. Now, couples say are splitting after only two years and 9 months because of weird relationship perceptions due to excessive social media use. According to The Daily Mail UK, in a study of 1,953 UK adults, 79 percent were using social media sites before they broke up with their ex, while 36 percent of people had met their former significant other via a dating site or social media.

How many of them thought that social media led to the demise of their relationship? A whopping 54 percent and 34 percent said that their ex was flirting or had met someone new via social media. #rude.

Another factor? False standards — 12 percent saw how blissful other couples were and realized their relationship was in the doldrums.

Of course everyone looks extremely happy online! Who is going to post information about fights (I caught my boyfriend checking out my BFF!) and blow-ups (ugh, my beau didn't flush again). What sane person is going to post those updates? They are going to update you with apple picking and vacations to Cabo (you'll find out they broke up three months after that).

The real reason behind social media ripping apart relationships are the false perceptions that come with it. Social media is a virtual platform based on how we want the world to perceive us — from profile picture angles to witty updates — it is not an actual reality. No one's relationship is as perfect as it appears online. Relationships take work, people. So put down the keyboards, snuggle up, and communicate.