Love in the time of Facebook

I don’t know about you but I tend to make the distinction of keeping my romantic relationships separate from the online world. Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I still view relationships as the source of sanctuary from the predatory world.

But for people like ourselves today, whose personal lives are so intricately intertwined with the social media – how do we really make that distinction? For one, Facebook allows its users to conveniently add or drop lovers on their profile page. The ubiquity of micro-blogging allows us to vent our frustrations as the result of a lover’s spat, that we would otherwise not be able to do so traditionally as quickly with our friends. The result of such online display of commitment to a lover also means a commitment to your lover’s network and acquaintances, and creating new rules of digital etiquette for both lovers and their network of friends.

For couples who happily in love, this overlap of information in the physical and digital world doesn’t pose much concern – BUT the trouble begins brewing when couples hit a rough patch and break up eventually. As friends, whose sides do we take now? Will you de-friend your ex on Facebook? You don’t want to look like a secondary school kid but it is also painfully difficult to swallow news of your ex, especially in the early stages of breakup.

As for now, I’m staying away from publicly airing my dirty linen when it comes to personal relationships but one day, you might just be amongst the first to hear of my break-up on this blog. After all, there is nothing quite as cathartic as blogging about a break-up.