SHOULD YOU POST ABOUT YOUR RELATIONSHIP? BY YAHMIEN CONNER, 8TH GRADE, CHICAGO

Should YOU POST ABOUT Your Relationship?

BY YAHMIEN CONNER, 8TH GRADE, CHICAGO

Putting your relationship status on social media seems to be normal in the digital age, especially when it comes to things like your significant other or romantic relationships. Hashtags like #CoupleGoals and others are pretty common because that's how some couples show their affection for each other. But just because something is common or seen as normal doesn't mean that it's healthy or should be done carelessly. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with posting a picture of you and your boo having a great time together. Especially if it's something like a big event happening; like if you're at a wedding or someone's birthday party. But [I believe] it's best to stay discreet with your relationship status when it comes to social media. If you are one of those couples that like to post everything, it's imperative to be careful.

I personally wouldn't be obsessed with posting my relationship and making it a big thing on my page, though I wouldn't be one hundred percent against it either. But I would also be discreet with the posts that I put with the picture. For example, if I was to start dating someone and then post a picture of us on a social media page, the only way you would know we would be together

is if we were really close in the picture. That would be the only indication that we were a couple. There would be no special hashtags, no incredibly long paragraphs; just a few sentences saying how we're having fun and that I'm glad I could share that time with them. It's not that I don't care about them, I just have other ways of showing my affection and I feel like I don't need to do that through a post. If they want affection, I'll give it to them in person. The whole world doesn't need to see it.

There are some people who prefer to show affection that way. If the person that I'm in a relationship with loves the idea of taking lots of pictures and posting it on their page, I would be fine with it. But we would have to have a conversation first addressing the situation. The last thing I need is for the person that I'm in a relationship with to think that I don't care about them because I don't post lots of pictures of them on my page. They need to understand that I'm just not that type of person and that's not how I show my affection. If they really are an internet junkie and that's how they show their love and can't help it, they would be limited to one picture a day. If they're a little more neutral, a picture every other day. But there is no way on earth I am letting them constantly update a bunch of strangers on our relationship eight or nine times a day, every day.

That's not happening.