If you decided you wanted to breakup with your significant other, how would you go about it? Would you call them on the phone? Would you handle it in person?
Since social media has become increasingly popularized over the past few years, its impact on romantic relationships has progressed significantly. People tend to broadcast their lives on social media, especially when gushing about their significant other with their social media realm.
In an article published by Forbes, researchers examined the correlation between social media and relationships. The writer said that social media, such as Instagram or Twitter, can lead to infidelity in a partner; they could then engage in secretive conversations with others that could be easily hidden or deleted. Also, some users tend to overshare or paint an unrealistic picture of the nature of the relationship, which can lead to unattainable expectations.
Social media can have a beneficial or harmful impact on millennial relationships depending on how they choose to use social media. Breakups occur often and social media has the power to either be the cause of these splits or the communicative medium used to facilitate the separations.
The Pew Research Center did a study on teens to determine which mode of breaking up would be the least and most acceptable. Teens had to rate breakups done in person, through a phone call, over text message, and social media platforms. A breakup via social media could be the partner changing their Facebook status to single or a direct message on Instagram. According to the study, the one that was chosen as most acceptable was in person, followed by a phone call, then a text message, then social media.
We’ve taken to SJU’s campus to investigate for ourselves how the students feel about different ways to break up with someone and how they would respond in specific breakup scenarios. Eight students were given four different scenarios with varying relationship lengths and asked how they would break up with their significant other.
