Facebook and Relationship Status
Ah yes, another article on Facebook and relationships. How has that social interface crept its way into every part of our lives? I’m not sure, but it has. Questions regarding Facebook pop up in our online personals faqs constantly. It’s one of the most popular topics.
Today we’re going to talk about that goddamn ‘Relationship Status’ thing. Oh lordy, lordy, lordy, lord. Ok. Where to start? I suppose this element of the profile was created simply to let others know what your status is – not only because our society is obsessed with putting us into boxes like that – but also simply for practical persons. If you friend a hot woman on Facebook and want to know if you have the green light to poke and pursue, checking out whether she’s single or not first can be a huge time and embarrassment saver.
But as we all know, ‘single,’ ‘in a relationship with (insert name here),” “married,” and “it’s complicated” don’t always cut it. Sometimes, we can be in a serious and seriously committed relationship with (insert name here), but it could also be an open relationship. Does that automatically mean “it’s complicated.” Because, really, it’s no more complicated than a monogamous relationship is. And what if we aren’t quite in a relationship, but aren’t really ‘single’ either? What if we are ‘in the midst of something that might not really be anything but that is currently preoccupying so much of my mental energy that I have no room for thinking of fucking anyone else’? Huh? What then? What should we put? “It’s complicated? But then, what if the woman you’re in this ‘thing’ with is like ‘this relationship doesn’t even merit an ‘it’s complicated’” and dumps you for taking the step of public announcement without her consent?
When is it suitable to change your relationship status to reflect an incoming or outgoing relationship? I suppose this is another issue you must discuss with your ingoing or outgoing partner. Another way in which dating is now online dating – always, whether or not you actually met the person online.