Changing FB Relationship Status Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

With people relying on social networking platforms to connect with their friends and families nowadays, it’s easy to let others know what’s going on in your life without having to go through the trouble of physical confrontations. You can post what’s bothering you by posting a status. You can share an object of interest by posting a weblink or a note. Conversely, you can let other people know your sentiments about what’s happening in their lives by posting to their walls or by commenting on their posts. Facebook even lets you announce the name of your unborn children  to the whole world if you’re expecting. These sharing possibilities are what make Facebook tick. It’s what makes people you use them. And so with the opportunity of having a virtual audience of your own that will hold onto every personal update you have, you can also let the world know the travails of your love life, or the lack thereof.

Certainly one of the hardest questions to answer
for most people 

If you’re online almost everyday and is an avid user of the social networking giant Facebook, you probably know the type of people that I’m going to talk about. As you might have noticed from your News Feed, you have a couple of friends who has this habit of changing their relationship status from Single to In a Relationship to It’s Complicated back to being Single again—and all these life stages occur within a month’s span from each other, sometimes even days. A few even take it to the extreme of changing statuses within minute intervals. Sometimes, I even find friends change their relationship status from Single to being Married on the same night! I didn’t even realize that friend is seeing someone and now she’s married? When did this happen?

Which leads me to think if these updates are true to begin with. Or if they are done just for an attempt to get attention that these people so want.  I’ve seen couples change relationship status into Single after only a few minutes of lover’s spat and back into the In A Relationship stage after they make up, ironically after an hour. Amazing, isn’t it? On that note, I’ve also seen underaged teens whose relationship status is Engaged. Really? At sixteen you’re widowed?  It’s a crazy online world, I tell ‘ya.

Now, let me just say that I’m no way ridiculing these people. First of all, it’s their constitutional right to change relationship status whenever they want to. Facebook does not have any provisions on the limit of relationship changes a user can make and the number of instances you can change your status from Single to Married or whatever. It doesn’t violate any civil or federal laws that I know of. And part of the whole social media experience is to share, or in some cases to overshare. Sometimes we tend to be uninhibited when it comes to letting people know every minute details of our lives. But at what point do we actually think that what we are sharing is necessary for those who have access to our Walls?

When you stop and think about it, there could be a lot of reasons why someone feels the need to change their relationship status. And it varies from person to person. You change your status to announce the good news to your friends and family. Someone who has been long single is now in a relationship, finally. Consequently, people will “like” the activity with some congratulatory remarks. At times, it is done out of the joy one feels while in the euphoric rush of being in-love. And that’s a good thing. Love is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with letting the world know you’re in love. But when you do it, say every month, that is you change from Single to In A Relationship, most people will begin to wonder. Didn’t you just have a relationship last month? What happened? Is he seeing someone new that we don’t know of? Did they have a fight again?

Worse is when the relationship status changes every week. Your social circle will not only find it bizarre, but seeing as how it so often occurs, it becomes your habit and a natural occurrence for them. And if it happens too often, most people will begin to lose care of what you’re trying to announce. Which in hindsight, is what you are trying to accomplish in the first place. You’re trying to announce to get attention, if not from the entire world at least from your immediate circles. If not, then you wouldn't feel the need to post in the first place. Attention isn't always a bad thing and as people we crave attention.

Some will find it rather annoying that you pop up on their News Feed every once in a while with a new relationship status. While others will begin to think, this person changes relationship status every month/week, he/she must be (fill in the blanks). It makes people draw a general conclusion about your personal life based on what you are doing. Certainly, that’s the least we want to happen, though I’m not saying it’s right for people to draw a preconceived notion about you based on some online update. But can you really blame them when every lover’s spat you have with your boyfriend turns you into a Single in five minutes? Or if the friendly date you just had with someone whom you just met instantly puts you In A Relationship?

Those who are guilty of doing this will argue that they don’t really care about what others will think of them once they do these changes, or if they do it often. Others will reason out using the I don’t care mentality. If I want to do it, then I will. Again, let me reiterate that it’s fine and no one has the right to stop them. But let me also ask this question: why is there a need for you to change statuses every week or every month? Regardless if you’re doing it to get attention or just simply for the purpose of announcing it to your friends, if these changes happen more often than the number of times you actually interact with people, don’t you think it’s about time that you sit yourself down and ask yourself if YOU have a problem? Furthermore, if you are overly concerned about your status as being Single or obsessed on changing your relationship status, don’t you think there is something wrong? This maybe a great time for you to take a hard look on yourself and re-examine the way you view things in your life.

Facebook users such as myself who are bewildered by these people have developed a habit of apathy overtime for us to avoid making nasty, personal comments toward these said friends. And we certainly know how to scroll down our news feeds faster and ignore some posts quicker than most people.

Go ahead, change your relationship status. I know you're dying to.