Social media is changing how people interact and form relationships. While it allows for increased connections, some argue that online relationships are less meaningful than offline relationships. Studies show that people are often attached to their phones and devices even during social gatherings. Social media also impacts romantic relationships, with many people deciding to become "Facebook Official" but oversharing personal details online. It can also make breaking up more difficult. How people present themselves online through profiles and photos can impact their self-image and how they feel about themselves. While social media is a useful tool, it is changing human behavior and relationships in complex ways.

1. The Reality of Relationships
in the Digital Age
Photo by: RowdyKittens (Flickr))
By: Melissa Brown

2. Around the world, more than 1.2 billion
people use social media or social network sites.
Photo by: NASA (Flickr))Source: World Economic Forum, Social Networks

3. Social media is supposed
to help foster
connections.
But just how meaningful are these connections?
Photo by: procsilas (Flickr)

4. And how have these “connections” changed the
way in which we interact?
Photo by: Angelo Gonzalez (Flickr)

5. “Walking through a college library one sees the same thing: we are
together, but each of us is in our own bubble, furiously connected to
keyboards and tiny touch screens.”
Photo by: froboy (Flickr)
Source: Sherry Turkle, The Flight
from Conversation

6. “We can’t get enough of one another if we can use
technology to keep one another at distances we
can control: not too close, not too far, just right.”
Photo by: Linda (Flickr)
The Goldilocks Effect:
Source: Sherry Turkle, The Flight from Conversation

7. Photo by: Presidio of Monterey (Flickr)
“Human relationships are rich; they’re messy and demanding.
We have learned the habit of cleaning them up with technology.”
Source: Sherry Turkle, The Flight from Conversation

8. Are these new digital relationships rich and rewarding?
Or are they ruining the human connections we already have…
Photo by: PetteriO (Flickr)

9. Photo by: *vlad* (Flickr)
Social media allows for increased interactions
with friends and family.

10. But, are we losing friends due to
communication incompatibility?
Photo by: Jhaymesisviphotography (Flickr)

11. Photo by: Victori A (Flickr)
“This Pandora’s box has opened…
There are too many ways to converse,
each of us has a favored method, and no one
wants to compromise.”
Source: Elizabeth Bernstein, He Texts, She Tweets – Are They E-Compatible?

12. Are these online connections making us
vulnerable to dangerous situations?
Photo by: Alvimann (morgueFile)

13. Photo by: monkeyc.net (Flickr)
“Those engaging in cyber-aggression were
unlikely to target strangers but often were in close
relationships with their victims at one point in time,
close enough to know how to harm them.”
Source: Diane Felmlee, From Bullying to Relationships: Mapping Our Online Communications

14. “This world of social has created an environment that
eventually strings them along a path to a point where the very
information they created can be their greatest demise.”
Photo by: Gerald Simmons (Flickr) Source: Hessie Jones, Teaching Our Kids Not to Treat the Internet as a Private Diary

15. What about
romantic
relationships?
Photo by: Ladyheart (morgueFile)

16. Photo by: KaylaKandzorra Simmons (Flickr)
“Participants almost universally cited Facebook
as their primary tool for interaction
early in the experimenting stage of romantic
relationship development.”
Source: Tom Jacobs, I Now Pronounce You FBO: Facebook Official

17. Photo by: chelle (morgueFile)
“Deciding to go FBO means laying your
emotional cards on the table, face up.”
Source: Tom Jacobs, I Now Pronounce You FBO: Facebook Official

18. “Seemingly insignificant PDFAs reflect how
committed people were in real life.”
Photo by: Por mi tripa (Flickr) Source: Allison McCann, How Facebook Ruined Dating (And Breaking Up Too)

19. “One new study shows that disclosing more about
ourselves online actually lessens intimacy
and satisfaction among romantic couples.”
But,
Photo by: J. McPherskesen (Flickr)
Source: Sherry Turkle, The Flight
from Conversation

20. “People feel more pressure from friends and family to
stay together when they have their partner in their
profile picture and relationship status.”
Photo by: ana_c_golpe (morgueFile) Source: Allison McCann, How Facebook Ruined Dating (And Breaking Up Too)

21. Photo by: the apostrophe (Flickr)
“Remaining Facebook friends with an ex delayed
emotional recovery and led to greater distress
over the breakup, negative feelings, sexual desire
and longing for the ex-partner.”
Source: Allison McCann, How Facebook
Ruined Dating (And Breaking Up Too)

22. What about perhaps the
most important
relationship – the one with
yourself?
Photo by: Knokton (Flickr)

23. “Self-image is important, and not always in a narcissistic way.
It's how we define ourselves, and present for others to see. We
rely on others' perceptions, judgments and appraisals to develop our
social self.”
Photo by: Abitha_Arabella (Flickr) Source: Christine Erickson, The Social Psychology of the Selfie

24. “Today, the chance of being scrutinized is greater because
more people interact through a protected, anonymous
filter, potentially making any self-esteem issues more
sensitive.”
Photo by: MadalynChristine (Flickr)
But,
Source: Christine Erickson, The
Social Psychology of the Selfie

25. “Social sites like the “Am I Ugly?” reddit further suggests the desire
to maintain an image that's accepted by society before the self.”
Photo by: lulia Pironea Photography (Flickr)
Source: Christine Erickson, The
Social Psychology of the Selfie

26. Photo by: zzpza (Flickr)
Technology can be utilized as a
valuable tool in everyday
lives and relationships.

27. Photo by: hotblack (morgueFile)
Like any tool, if used
improperly, it hinders
progress and ruins
experiences.

28. But when used properly, it brings a connection or satisfaction
and opens the door to new ways of doing things.
Photo by: nazka2002 (morgueFile)

29. Sources
• http://reports.weforum.org/global-agenda-council-
2012/councils/social-networks/
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-
from-conversation.html?pagewanted=all
• http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230470860457750267
2286303452.html
• http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/01/20/from.bullying.relationsh
ips.mapping.our.online.communications
• http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/hessie-jones/teens-oversharing-
internet_b_2923694.html
• http://www.psmag.com/blogs/news-blog/i-now-pronounce-you-fbo-
facebook-official-51307/
• http://www.buzzfeed.com/atmccann/how-facebook-ruined-dating-
and-breaking-up-too
• http://mashable.com/2013/02/15/social-media-and-the-selfie/

30. Photo by: neiv (morgueFile)
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