Social media has become an integral part of our lives. Platforms like Facebook allow us to stay connected with friends and family, share life updates, and express ourselves. However, social media can also complicate relationships. One way this happens is through relationship statuses displayed on Facebook.
What does your Facebook relationship status mean?
Facebook gives users several options for indicating their relationship status: Single, In a Relationship, Engaged, Married, In an Open Relationship, In a Domestic Partnership, In a Civil Union, It’s Complicated, Separated, Divorced, Widowed. Choosing one of these statuses publicly broadcasts your romantic situation to your friends, family, acquaintances, colleagues, and anyone else who can view your profile.
Some of the key things your Facebook relationship status communicates include:
- Whether you are single and available or in a committed relationship
- If you are engaged, married, or divorced
- That you are in a non-traditional or poorly-defined romantic situation
- Major milestones like getting engaged or married
- When you are entering or exiting relationships
In summary, your Facebook relationship status is a public declaration of your romantic life. It serves as a signal to others of whether and how you are involved with someone.
How could your relationship status impact your actual relationships?
Displaying a relationship status on Facebook has the potential to affect your actual relationships in several ways:
- Reflects commitment – Being “Facebook official” signals you are serious about your significant other. It can represent a milestone in commitment.
- Generates expectations – Publicly labeling your relationship creates expectations from your partner and friends about your level of commitment.
- Affects jealousy – Your significant other may experience jealousy over how you interact with others online after establishing the relationship.
- Causes pressure – Partners may pressure each other to display the relationship online before both are ready.
- Enables monitoring – Partners can easily monitor each other’s activities such as posts, friends, photos, and updates.
- Creates competition – Couples may feel competitive pressure to proclaim relationship milestones like engagements or marriage.
- Hinders separation – Removing or altering the status can be emotionally difficult if the relationship ends.
In many cases, the displayed relationship status directly mirrors the actual status. But when it doesn’t, problems can arise. Partners may feel obligated to change their status before they are ready. Breakups can be more dramatic and hurtful when the change is public.
How can you change your relationship status on Facebook?
It’s easy to change your relationship status on Facebook. Just follow these steps:
- Go to your Facebook profile page
- Click on the “About” section
- Find the relationship status box and click on it
- A drop-down menu will appear. Select your new relationship status from the options.
- Click on the “Update Status” button to save and publish the change
Facebook also gives you the option to select an audience for your relationship status. By default it is set to “Public” so anyone can see it. But you can also restrict it to “Friends” or just “Specific Friends” if you want more control over who can view it.
When should you update your relationship status?
There aren’t any hard rules for when to update your Facebook relationship status. Here are some general guidelines to consider:
- When you are in an exclusive relationship – Making it “official” shows commitment to each other
- Before major relationship milestones – Updating it communicates the milestone to your community
- When you are engaged or married – Proclaim your new relationship status to friends and family
- When you break up or separate – Changing it acknowledges the end of the relationship
- When you start dating again after a breakup – Indicates you have moved on
You should update it whenever your relationship status changes in real life. But don’t feel pressured to. Make sure you and your partner discuss timing and are on the same page first.
How has Facebook impacted relationships and marriage?
Facebook’s introduction of relationship statuses and other interpersonal features have influenced romantic relationships and marriage in observable ways:
- They enable people to reconnect with old flames from their past, sometimes leading to emotional or physical affairs.
- Partners frequently monitor each other’s activities on Facebook, occasionally resulting in jealousy, arguments, and breakups.
- The visibility of relationships has increased pressure on couples to celebrate milestones like engagements, marriage, and childbirth.
- Social media posts and pictures are frequently used as evidence in divorce proceedings.
- Social media facilitates communication between partners, allowing people in long-distance relationships to stay connected.
- Facebook provides a platform for couples to publicly celebrate their love and declare their commitment to each other through status updates, photos, and announcements.
Overall, Facebook has made relationships more transparent but also more complicated. Partners now have to navigate issues like emotional cheating online, privacy concerns, pressure to publish their relationship, and social media jealousy. The online display of relationships has become tightly interwoven with what happens in actual relationships.
Reasons people don’t want to display their relationship status
While many eagerly publicize new relationships on Facebook, others choose to keep that information private. Here are some common reasons people may not want to display a relationship status:
- Don’t want the added pressure or expectations
- Prefer to keep their personal life private
- Find it irrelevant to display online
- Concerned about relationship moving too fast
- Do not want family or employer to know
- In a complicated or ambiguous relationship
- Worried their partner will become jealous of online friends/activities
- Do not want an ex or former love interest to know they are in a new relationship
- Want to remain available for other prospects
- Consciously keeping their options open with other romantic interests
The choice to abstain from displaying a relationship status online can be either benign or an indicator of underlying issues. It often simply reflects a preference for privacy. However, for some it may represent fear of commitment, trust issues, or an unwillingness to close the door with past partners.
Does displaying your relationship status matter?
Social media has made relationships more public than ever before. But does displaying your coupledom online really matter? Here are two perspectives:
Yes, it matters because:
- It’s a public declaration of commitment
- It officially documents the relationship milestone
- Shows your partner that you are proud to be with them
- Signals to others that you are off the market
- Avoids perceptions that you are hiding something
No, it doesn’t matter because:
- Your real-life commitment is what counts
- It’s simply a label that can be misleading
- The health of your relationship exists apart from Facebook
- You can be committed without publicizing it to everyone
- It invites stress, pressure, and scrutiny from others
- A Facebook status does not stop someone from cheating or ending the relationship
Views differ on whether displaying relationship statuses is meaningful or not. In some ways it is merely informational, documenting a milestone. But it can also impact perceptions, expectations, and behaviors around that relationship for both partners and outside observers.
Best practices for relationship statuses
Here are some best practices to consider around relationship statuses on Facebook:
- Have an open discussion with your partner before changing it
- Only change it when you both agree on the timing
- Make sure it accurately and honestly portrays your real-life status
- Use privacy settings to control who can see it
- Remember it’s ultimately just an optional online label
- Don’t use it as a tool to make partners jealous or manipulate others
- Periodically audit your status as relationships evolve
- Consider deleting your status entirely if it’s causing stress or complications
The health and stability of your relationships exist independently of Facebook. But handling your online relationship status sensitively and maturely can avoid unnecessary social media drama.
Advice for using relationship statuses positively
Here are some ways you can leverage relationship statuses on Facebook in a positive manner:
- Announce new relationships proudly when you are ready
- Use statuses creatively to share unique milestones
- Commemorate anniversaries, engagements, and weddings
- Post loving tributes about your partner on their birthday or your anniversary
- Share inspiring relationship quotes as your status
- Keep your status up-to-date as your relationship evolves
- Respect your partner’s privacy wishes regarding statuses
- Discuss major status changes privately together before posting
Facebook’s relationship status feature allows you to celebrate your love, share milestones, and strengthen your real-world bond if used thoughtfully. It should enhance your relationship, not complicate it unnecessarily.
Conclusion
Facebook relationship statuses are a double-edged sword. They allow demonstration of love and commitment. But they also create pressure, breed jealousy, and facilitate public monitoring of your romantic life. Approach Facebook’s relationship labeling features carefully, with open communication and maturity. Do not let social media publicize or jeopardize what you have built in your real life. The health of your relationship is not actually tied to that little box on your profile.