Yes ? No ?
This past
weekend a close friend and I were conversing about giving up social medias for
a significant other. She and I didn't think it was that big of an
issue, but one of our mutual friend said that she would NEVER delete her
Twitter or anyone or any reason. She was basically saying that anyone who asked
her to do that was insecure and not worthy of having her.
"Only insecure people would make their partners delete their Facebook/Twitter"
First off I want to say, I have
went without a Facebook account for a year already (yes, I am still ALIVE).
Beside a few weeks ago I activated it back just to see what’s up on there for a
day. I deleted Facebook a year ago when I started my relationship with my
boyfriend. I didn't do it because he asked but because I felt like it was not
something I wanted anymore. So the whole time I stuck with just twitter. From
my experience there will always be something on social networks that will make
your significant other uncomfortable or question you on things. Over the years
the internet has been a great part of interrupting relationships and marriage.
It always seems like everything something is wrong people broadcast it online.
No one really talks about it in person anymore. They let the world know what’s
going on with their partners, making them both look bad. I believe the majority
of us are guilty of this. Taking things out is not “IN” anymore. All the real
communicating happens in a text message, email, and Facebook status.
After
my friend pointed out that “Only insecure people would make their partners
delete their Facebook or Twitter” I thought to myself that this was the more
common argument and I admit that there is a possibility that an insecure person
would make you delete a social media website you enjoy. What we don’t notice is
the fact that people are quick to point out
their significant other’s insecurity as the only justifiable reason behind
someone asking them to leave a social media website without applying the same
level of justification to themselves for needing to be on the website in the
first place. Just because some prioritizes your relationship over the use of a
social media website doesn't necessarily mean it makes them “insecure”. Not everyone
on Facebook or Twitter is important to your daily life or existence. So before
categorizing someone as insecure, I think you should have a conversation on why
they want you to delete your profile before saying you will “NEVER” delete it.
"I need Twitter/Facebook."
NO YOU DON’T!
Believe it or not, didn't we say same thing about AIM and
MySpace a few years ago? When is the last time you logged into one of those
websites? I wish this went without
saying but social media websites are not like food, air, and water. Yes, you
might be addicted to them but you DO NOT NEED THEM. You were perfectly fine
before they arrived and I don’t think you would die if they just disappeared. Haven’t
you thought of the billions of people around the world who function in their
everyday life without ever logging into a single website? Anyone who follows me
on Twitter knows I’m as big a Twitter addict as anyone, but I can say that I
don’t need Twitter. In fact, I've taken
several breaks from Twitter, like this whole month I have went without twitter
and I just activated back up 2 nights ago just to pimp out my blog views a lil
(LOL) It’s not that I don’t like Twitter. I like it a lot, but my life is not
significantly better or worse with or without it.The point is the majority of
people on Facebook and Twitter are using the website for, as the name implies,
social services. There are very few people on Facebook and Twitter who only
justify for maintaining an active account to share their professional message.
Even these people primarily use these websites for entertainment. There’s
nothing wrong with that but I’m not sure it’s worth losing your relationship
over.
"Is a social media website more important than your
relationship?"
More people debate on deleting their Facebook over
Twitter. On Facebook, understanding there is at least some semblance of a
relationship between yourself and most of the people you are “friends” with. In
other words, your “Facebook Friends” mainly consists of friends, family and colleagues.
These are people you “know” in real life – how well you know them is not
important today. Twitter mostly consists of strangers following other strangers.
For example I have 935 followers on Twitter and I follow 674. I “know” maybe
200 of these people in real life. There others are just mutual followers of
people I follow. Like most others on Twitter, my network consists of
strangers. This isn't unique by any means. As far as social media websites go,
Facebook is actually the outlier. For most websites, there is not an
expectation, that you will ever meet or know these people in real life. When
someone says they would “never” give up Twitter or Facebook, this translates to,
“I rather entertain and follow strangers I don’t know over the woman/man in my
life that I do know.”
Would you ever delete your Facebook/Twitter for your girlfriend/boyfriend?
