If you are a college student and you know about computers, chances are you have a Facebook profile. Social networking has come a long way since MySpace, and Mark Zuckerberg has proven himself particularly innovative with Facebook by constantly pioneering new ways to make keeping in touch with people as efficient and creepy as possible.
But this is not another kick at the dead horse that is Facebook’s privacy settings, or an attempt to segue into a complaint about how long and tedious a process it can be to actually get completely rid of one’s Facebook page. What I want to discuss instead is that little piece of information on most people’s profiles that reads, “Relationship Status.”
Relationships are of course good things, let’s be clear on that; as a matter of fact I recently found myself in a situation that over the past couple of months has morphed from a state where I could have posted an “It’s Complicated” status on Facebook, into a state where I can now post an “In a Relationship” status. In this day and age it has become somewhat expected that one’s Facebook relationship status be appropriately updated – in other words, those who are “Single” should not deprive themselves of any saucy Facebook flirting by accidentally leaving an old flame in their relationship status, while those who are in relationships ought not bring their loyalty into question by leaving a “Single” status up on their respective Facebook profiles.
This is, of course, ridiculous. Maybe not so much for those who are single; any person who would spicily flirt with someone who is stated as already being in a relationship is probably a person that should be avoided, so a single guy or girl who still has an old relationship status up should probably not be shopping around for love on Facebook until that problem is addressed. Then again, these people shouldn’t really be shopping Facebook for girl- or boyfriends anyway, mostly because the presence of an old relationship status indicates that it hasn’t been long enough to be ready for a healthy relationship but also because that method clearly didn’t work out so well the last time.
However, there just isn’t enough proof that using Facebook’s relationship status is a good thing. Sure, both parties becoming “Facebook Official” is a way of announcing their eternal, undying love for each other for all of their combined number of friends to see, but is that really such a great idea? Because let’s face it: most love at our age is anything but eternal, and when it comes time to change one’s relationship status, those same people who you wanted to know that you were in a relationship are going to know that you aren’t in one any longer… and they’re going to want to know all about it, regardless of how you’re feeling at the time.
So if this rings true, simply do what I did: discuss the issue with your significant other and, after figuring out that it would take too much work to get Facebook to say that you’re officially married to Batman, just take the entire relationship status section down. If you really, truly love him or her, then you won’t tell Facebook.
Chad Carlile can be reached at
