Psychological impact of social networking: How it has changed the way people view their relationship?

It’s funny but true that the social networking sites have a large impact on our everyday life, an inanimate stuff capturing the wellbeing of the human brain.

People have used Online social networking sites to re-create face-to-face interactions on the web by allowing people to interact publically or privately. Many people use social media as a way to stay in contact, while others use the medium as a way to develop new connections. A benefit of social networking websites is that they allow people to develop or maintain relationships with individuals who may not be close to themselves geographically. When it comes to location, social networking websites allow families, couples, and friends to stay connected using a simple click of a button.

Social networking sites are a great way to interact with another person online, by getting to know that individual person better, or to maintain and enhance a long distance relationship. A large number of population is in the grip of social networking sites, few can’t imagine a day without logging in the sites, for few the days starts updating their status, for others they give moment to moment updates. They are varied reasons for the same. It could be appreciation, boredom, to boast about one’s achievement; commonly you would see only the positive posts of the person.

What psychological factors can develop due to the use of social networking sites?Does it have only positive impact or is it believed to ruin an existing relationship?

Technology has altered the way relationships can be developed and maintained. Traditionally, relationships have to deal with components of love, trust, commitment, honesty, passion, and satisfaction; now relationships have to deal with much more. Social networking sites have altered the way people interact and develop relationships, finding.

Many Social networking sites have relationship settings which allow users to share their relationship status or keep it private. Users can choose from categories such as “in a relationship,” “it’s complicated,” and “single,” to name a few. Nowadays, declaring publically online that you are in a relationship is an illustration to friends and family of the commitment you have made, every now and then u see those status changing, as human emotions never stable just like your emotion changes so does your status, just cause one is or not satisfied with the so and so act, thought of the other person you change your status, which reflects your positive or negative emotions towards that person, these factors are likely to jeopardize your longstanding relationship. Individuals may experience negative feelings toward the others with brutal honesty affecting their personal relationships with family members, friends, and relatives.

For an individual who has insecurities, they may find their partner’s online actions to be a flaw, which could be a diminishing satisfaction factor . Surveillance of Facebook pages may cause higher anxiety, mistrust, and jealousy, which will threaten the relationship’s existence.

It is usually seen that as relationship matures, couples invest more time into the relationship, SNS usage decreases. it is not surprising that individuals would check their partner’s social media accounts to ensure and protect their relationship stability, This means as couples get more intimate, they spend less time online. However, results suggest that when they are online, they are likely to check their partner’s online activities. The use of Social networking sites indicate how society is changing by utilizing new technologies to monitor relationships, with the goal to protect it. Similarly, everything in this world has a positive and negative aspect, it totally depends on the way you take it.

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The Author is Clinical Psychologist at Mental Hospital Lagankhel, Lalitpur, Nepal and can be reached at [email protected]