Have any of you noticed how myspace, facebook etc. have complicated the rules of dating and relationships?
Two little words can cause a lot of weirdness: “Relationship Status”
Now your status is available for all your friends, family and random strangers to see. That doesn’t bother me so much. What concerns me is the way that it affects the ‘dating game’.
In a world without “Relationship Status” boxes a boy and girl can get to know each other, go on a few dates, hold hands, kiss, go on more dates and eventually realise that they actually like each other enough to start referring to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Having an option to state your relationship status complicates things. Contrary to romantic comedy formula, people don’t fall for each other at exactly the same time. So it’s safe to assume that both parties will seldom consider an affair to be a relationship at exactly the same point – unless it is a mutual decision.
So if one person changes his/her profile to say that he/she is in a relationship will that freak the other out? Will it put unreasonable expectations on their interaction? Will their friends think it’s more serious than it is? Will other people be upset by the change in status quo?
I also know couples that have had issues because one of them had their status listed as single. Changing your relationship status is a pretty harsh and public way to signify that it’s over. How soon after a break-up is it safe to change your status?
Back in school things seemed less complicated. If you liked a girl you’d ask her to be your girlfriend. If she liked you back she’d say yes. Then you were ‘in a relationship’.
I’ve only had one serious relationship since high school (it lasted almost 3 years). So I’m not very good at the ‘dating game’ and the idea of just ending up in a relationship is a bit weird for me. Normally I like to know exactly where I stand with someone. It’s probably just me being insecure about whether I’m actually ‘in there’ or not.
I like facebook’s option to say that your relationship status is “complicated” – but it assumes that you’re in a relationship and it’s complicated. What if you’re single and it’s complicated? Or it’s simply complicated because you’re trying to see where things end up. That’s not really complicated is it? They need an option that says “kinda sorta seeing someone and it might become a relationship eventually, but right now there’s a lot of circumstances that complicat the matter so we’re just happy discovering each other for the time being”
The dreaded ‘relationship status’ box
May 8, 2007Have any of you noticed how myspace, facebook etc. have complicated the rules of dating and relationships?
Two little words can cause a lot of weirdness: “Relationship Status”
Now your status is available for all your friends, family and random strangers to see. That doesn’t bother me so much. What concerns me is the way that it affects the ‘dating game’.
In a world without “Relationship Status” boxes a boy and girl can get to know each other, go on a few dates, hold hands, kiss, go on more dates and eventually realise that they actually like each other enough to start referring to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Having an option to state your relationship status complicates things. Contrary to romantic comedy formula, people don’t fall for each other at exactly the same time. So it’s safe to assume that both parties will seldom consider an affair to be a relationship at exactly the same point – unless it is a mutual decision.
So if one person changes his/her profile to say that he/she is in a relationship will that freak the other out? Will it put unreasonable expectations on their interaction? Will their friends think it’s more serious than it is? Will other people be upset by the change in status quo?
I also know couples that have had issues because one of them had their status listed as single. Changing your relationship status is a pretty harsh and public way to signify that it’s over. How soon after a break-up is it safe to change your status?
Back in school things seemed less complicated. If you liked a girl you’d ask her to be your girlfriend. If she liked you back she’d say yes. Then you were ‘in a relationship’.
I’ve only had one serious relationship since high school (it lasted almost 3 years). So I’m not very good at the ‘dating game’ and the idea of just ending up in a relationship is a bit weird for me. Normally I like to know exactly where I stand with someone. It’s probably just me being insecure about whether I’m actually ‘in there’ or not.
I like facebook’s option to say that your relationship status is “complicated” – but it assumes that you’re in a relationship and it’s complicated. What if you’re single and it’s complicated? Or it’s simply complicated because you’re trying to see where things end up. That’s not really complicated is it? They need an option that says “kinda sorta seeing someone and it might become a relationship eventually, but right now there’s a lot of circumstances that complicat the matter so we’re just happy discovering each other for the time being”
This post is filed under:
Life in General
Tags: Blog, Paul Seele, Relationships, Social Networking
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