The Relationship Status

“Oh, so now you guys are Facebook Official? Woah, that’s a big deal.”

Relationship status has taken on a whole new level. Being “in a relationship” on Facebook is almost like a binding contract for couples, a written agreement that keeps them together. Couples want to world to know that they are together, they want their friends to know that they are loved, and that they are not alone. What does the fact that being “in a relationship” on Facebook is such a big deal mean?

Afterall, what does a label on your profile even mean? How does this label add or take away from your image on your Facebook? It is almost as if only by publicizing your relationship online so that all your friends can see is the relationship “real.” Our society relies heavily on artificial labels. Couples are seen as further into their relationship if they are official on Facebook than if they were not. But this cannot be the case. These superficial labels replace the true “meat” and emotions of a meaningful relationship. Or perhaps, what is meaningful in a relationship has changed. Rather than being in a relationship because a couple is in love, couples are perhaps more attracted to the idea of being “taken” or wanted by someone else. They want this to be known. The connotations of being in a relationship seem to matter even more than actually being in a relationship.

Of ten Stanford students that were surveyed, five of them said they are or have been in a relationship on Facebook, three were unsure of whether or not they would publicize their status to the worldwideweb, and two said they would never put themselves as “in a relationship” on Facebook.

Although majority of the students seem to fit into the mold of the “relationship status-er,” 20% of students still would never put their status up. This perhaps points to how the Facebook relationship status has now even become a source of stress to users. It seems that with exposing something so personal, such as marital status, comes much drama between friends and family. How can we explain how labels have become such a central part of our lives? Why do we value them so much? The relationship status is just one aspect of labelling. Our Facebook profiles become a way for us to compare ourselves with our peers. They allow us to find a social standing. Is that what we care about most?