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It is 2012 and it’s no surprise that everything we do is posted online. From the books we are currently reading, to the random thoughts we are thinking, to the songs we are loving, and even to the people we are dating.
On social media sites such as Facebook, there is an option to display your relationship status, and on top of that, it lets you show who that person is. And why not? A person you are dating is a big part of your life, so why not share it with your closest 900 friends? But how soon is it appropriate to post your relationship status? And how exactly do you have “the talk” to make sure it’s OK (and true) if you post that you’re “in a relationship”?
When we say “the talk”, we mean the conversation two people who have been dating have to discuss the future. Are you seeing other people? Should I be seeing other people? Are we a couple? Years ago those were the three big questions you asked. Once the air was clear and you realized the two of you wanted to be in a relationship, it was done. You would tell your friends about him or her and introduce them as your boyfriend or girlfriend. Now, living in the age of technology, there is one more question that is added: “Should we make it ‘Facebook official’?”
Making a relationship Facebook official is to click the tab “in a relationship” and then link your significant other so it appears on both of your profiles, so it reads “in a relationship with __”. Nowadays, this is the most important way of showing the world that you are ‘taken’. New York City resident Jennifer Mills said when asked about the topic, “It isn’t official unless it is on Facebook” which really got me thinking how true that is. For me, the only way I find out if my friends are dating someone is when I log onto my Facebook account and see the post first-hand. No one calls (or even texts for that matter) to share information. Even with engagements. This is the quickest way of sharing your good news without making 100 phone calls.
The one that always makes me laugh is the status “it’s complicated”. Who wants to share with the world that your relationship with so and so is complicated and they won’t commit? Don’t you think that’s something we shouldn’t be sharing? I’d rather be single than complicated any day.
As silly as this whole thing sounds, it is realistically the way of the future and we are all now required to discuss with our partners when we should change our relationship status. It is best (and safest) to wait to post anything online until you’ve had the offline conversation, so that you’re not blindsiding the other person that they are now in an official relationship with you. Give it some time. Don’t run to a computer and log onto Facebook the minute you realize you are dating someone. Let your friends and family find out before changing your status online. And if the relationship fails and you have to change your status back to single, well, that’s a whole different article.