You’ve finally met someone you really, really like. You’ve hit it off, you’ve gone on a few dates, and now you’re stressing about whether or not to Facebook friend her/him. What about when you’re already friends on Facebook and now you’re worried about how many Instagram pictures you should like, or if you should retweet all of her/his funny tweets. Or what about when you’re dating, and there’s finally some pressure to make things “Facebook official.”
We are more connected than ever online, so how do you keep that connection from getting in the way of your relationship?
A word of wisdom: Keep in mind that just because you can see everything your new love interest does online, from the burger they had for lunch to their thoughts on the movie they saw last night, it might feel like you know them so much better, but truly, it doesn’t make you closer in real life. It’s unbelievably easy to rush into relationships because of social media, but in real life, your relationship is only moving as fast as you are when you’re physically around each other. Don’t assume you know your new partner better than you do because of their social media presence.
Now, how long should you wait before taking big social media steps? It really depends on the situation. Here are a few examples of timelines:
You met them on a dating website but haven’t met them in person? Don’t add them. If the date doesn’t go well, you run the risk of spending the next few months cringing at every status update they make about going to the gym.
If you’ve taken the Facebook plunge, it’s safe to take the Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram leaps as well.
It’s difficult to tow the line between liking your partner’s pictures and liking too many of your partner’s pictures. Don’t seem too overwhelming by liking every single one of their statuses and tweets and pictures or your interest will begin to seem less genuine or frankly, pretty annoying. Here’s the standard I hold my partner’s statuses to: I like what I genuinely like. If it doesn’t interest me, there’s no harm in passing. I expect the same from her. Don’t accuse them of ignoring you for not liking one out of your seven selfies of the day.
As a quick sidenote, I’d also like to add that you shouldn’t post pictures of yourself being the cutest couple ever all of the time. Feel free to break this rule, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when your friends start commenting “STOP IT” under the thirtieth picture of your picnic in the park together.
At the end of the day, it’s just social media. Dating in the age of social media has the tendency to make us forget our priorities. Do you genuinely like your new person and enjoy spending time with them? That’s awesome and rare. Appreciate it and don’t let dating in the digital age ruin it.
