Social Media & Relationships: Balancing Digital Life

By:  Samantha Kabiling | Seasonal Public Relations Intern | Digital4Good

Social media shows a bit of our personal lives and even extends to those in our lives, like family, friends, and romantic partners. Sharing your life can be a great thing. You can show your achievements and your family, share awareness about the world, and share other details about your life. 

Yet, living on social media with little to no caution and using social media so much might affect your relationships with others. 

Media can affect these relationships; family, friends, romantic partnership, and even yourself, and today we’ll discuss what media can do to these relationships and how to healthily be in a relationship with social media and your loved ones.

The Impact of Social Media on Familial Relationships

Families and Social Media Use

People always see families online showing their family life, whether their kids are babies or grown adults. Social media can benefit families of almost any age that can healthily navigate the digital world. Social media can keep other family members in touch, encourage parent and child interactions of what's been in the press, and which can promote discussions.

The Downside of Digital Distraction

The article by Procentese et al. mentioned how having social media forced into a child’s growing life for everyday life could affect the parent’s need to record instead of just being there with their child constantly. 

Imagine everyone in the family in the living room, and no one is talking. There is some background noise from the television, but everyone is on their phones on social media and not talking to each other. Despite being in close contact with everyone there, no one is connecting. 

This can break the family if they don’t set some boundaries, especially with the younger generation, who are more easily impressionable. 

Friendships in the Age of Social Media

Online Friendships vs. Real Connections

It’s always fun to show friends online our appreciation and love for each other. We can tag our friends in in-person hangouts, celebrate their achievements, give birthday shout outs, and so much more.

Friendship might be different if you’re stuck looking down at your phone while scrolling through social media. This could cause a tear in the friendship, especially if communication between both parties is more on social media than in real life. 

The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

According to Relevant Magazine, friendships purely known for being online only would create a false sense of connection and illusions of a community, keep each other from being fully known, set unrealistic expectations, and keep us away from enjoying the moment. 

This could also bring anxiety to people to try to appear more “fun,” show a different side than people expect, and sometimes create the feeling of “fear of missing out,” also known as FOMO. 

According to the Pew Research Center, having more of a social media life than a social life beyond the phone might bring more lack of social cues, especially for those who are socially anxious and those who depend on social media for getting the “feel good” hormone where they heavily rely on social media interactions where it’s always fun and exciting. 

Romantic Relationships and Digital Dynamics

Balancing Love and Likes

Relationships have always been at the forefront of media and are now more prominent in today’s media world. Showing off your significant other tells the world that you’re taken and you adore your relationship with them and them in general. It is expected to post them on social media every so often and even talk about the relationship you have with them.

 It’s a little different if your social media is just your relationship; being distracted by your phone, how putting your relationship as your main content might be harmful, and create distrust between partners. 

Communication and Trust

According to Pew Research, 40% of people in their relationships say they’re bothered by how much time their partner spends on their phone, and 51% are distracted by their own devices when trying to have a conversation. This can cause a divide between partners, unless they can communicate about the problem.

There is nothing wrong with putting your relationship at the forefront of both partners’' media. There have been plenty of couple influencers who post the majority of their posts as their significant other, and they seem to be healthy individuals in healthy relationships. However, we don’t know what’s on the other side of the screen between the partners except them unless they choose to share. 

The Individual's Relationship with Social Media

Self-Perception and Digital Influence

The best relationship is yourself, and even social media could get in the way of yourself. Social media is just showing your best life, being honest with yourself, and knowing not to let media consume you is the best you can do for yourself. We have those moments where it consumes us and takes over our lives. 

Social media can get addicting, especially when doom scrolling - spending excessive time online scrolling - is now a significant worrying factor in everyday life. Excessive social media, even at a young age, can risk depression, anxiety, loss of sleep, and even cyberbullying. Being on social media could also affect your well-being with other people around you. 

This could also create more problems for yourself when certain things online could affect your self-esteem, like thoughts of your own body, the fear of missing out (FOMO), and preferring to be alone rather than spending time with friends and family.

Tips for Balancing Social Media and Relationships

Family Strategies

• Create activities that involve no phone usage, like sports, family dinners, and maybe pick up a hobby together
• Created limited media time like turning off the TV and setting a do not disturb feature on their devices. 
• As always, communication is vital regarding media boundaries like this. Express the reason for the limited media usage.

Friendship Tips

• Enjoy the moment without the phones.
• Learn and understand the feeling of being out of the loop. Enjoy your “me-time.”
• Take a hiatus from social media.
• It also doesn’t hurt to ask as long as it's communicated effectively.

Romantic Relationship Advice

• Ask about social media boundaries. A relationship will deal with hardships, and this could be one of them. Tell your partner what you’re comfortable or uncomfortable with.
• Trust your partner when it comes to social media.
• Communicate when it’s time to put away the phones and enjoy the time you two have together. 

Personal Well-Being

• Look up possible healthy hobbies to do whether it’s a relaxing one like reading or a physical one like hiking.
• Give yourself phone breaks and/or log off of social media.

Logging Off: Embracing Real-World Connections

It’s okay not to always be in the loop on social media when you have the world off your phone to discover and people to be in the moment with. Being in the moment and enjoying what you have with your phone put away is the best moment to keep in your mind rather than on social media. Be honest with yourself and enjoy what life offers beyond the online world. 

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