Social media provide new dating forum, officials say

Social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter, have changed the dating and relationship process, especially now that it is possible to know as much about a person as they are willing to disclose on their page.

“Social media has changed the first process of dating, which is meeting someone,” said Amber Paulk, associate professor of family and consumer sciences.

“Now, you have the opportunity to meet and date someone that you have never even met in person, and sometimes that person is not even real.”

Social media has also affected the way couples are getting to know one another. Paulk said it is possible to know a lot about a person just by looking at their Facebook page.

“You see courtship now as very different as it was, say, 100 years ago,” Paulk said. “Now, we can access someone at any time to get in touch with them, and I can find out mostly everything just by looking at your page.”

Social media has also redefined commitment. The infamous status change is now a popular way to show the entire social media spectrum that you are in a relationship with someone.

This also makes breaking up even more public than some would like.

“When you break up with someone, that is just spit out into the world, and I can see in real time the breakup occur online,” Paulk said. “It used to be I would not know that someone’s relationship ended until I saw them in person and asked them about it.”

UNA student Katie Bagwell said she thinks that posting relationship status changes is disclosing too much information.

“I would rather be broken up with in person, because that way, the whole country does not know about it instantly, because it is just between me and him,” she said.

Conversely, social media can make a breakup easier when used for lamenting and attention seeking, Paulk said.

This can include going through old photos on your profile and daily checking your ex’s statuses.

“It is easier to lament about a breakup when everything is right there, connected to you on Facebook,” Paulk said.

Jealousy is also a factor that Paulk uses as an example in her classes about social media. Paulk and her students found that Facebook stalking is an online form of the primal instinct of mate guarding.

“Facebook is now an extension of a form of mate guarding, whether it is checking their page hundreds of times, checking their e-mail or going through their phone,” she said.

For these reasons, Paulk said that she is certain that social media has had a negative impact on modern-day dating.