This Valentine’s Day, we can be sure that some couples have perused the pink and red decorated aisles of Wal-Mart, looking for that card that most accurately conveys their love in the cheesiest of ways.Others still may don themselves in all-black attire in reverence of Singles Awareness Day.

But perhaps a few of us are wondering exactly why so many relationships in this day and age fail to make it pass the starting gate.

Is it possible that technology, in its invasive nature, has had a negative impact on the development and maintenance of healthy relationships?

As if dating in the ‘real world’ is not difficult enough, with the advent of social networks it seems that we have found a way to further complicate them.

When sending a relationship request to your mate via Facebook is viewed as a legitimate step in solidifying your relationship, we might have a problem.

However, Facebook serves as a platform through which many couples can make their relationships official.

To gauge the significance of “Facebook dating,” we interviewed a couple random ETSU students, asking, “If you sent a relationship request to your significant other and he/she denied it, how would you react?”

The difference between the male and female answers were pretty vast.

James Jones, a student at ETSU, spoke candidly about his personal experience with Facebook dating. “It’s not so serious to me. I used to have a Facebook account and I deleted because of all the drama. So the Facebook dating isn’t a big deal to me.”

Ashley Ford, also an ETSU student, felt differently when asked the same question, “Honestly, I would be hurt. I mean, it’s not the most important thing but it has to be on there.”

And if one partner is reluctant to comply with this official seal of authenticity, the other might wonder what the problem is.

No more are the days of best friends introducing you to their cute co-workers or getting your secret crush’s phone number after class.

The new and improved way to proclaim your love to your 500 facebook friends, 400 of which you probably hardly know, is to declare it in cyberspace.

Many complications come along with this. For one, as most things in this world are ephemeral in nature, existing only to one day vanish, chances are your relationship will eventually come to a close.

The days of private grief are no more. With the click of the mouse, when you change that relationship status from “in a relationship with . ” to “single,” your entire network of friends is made aware within a matter of seconds.

And your page becomes overrun with statements like, “I’m so sorry,” or “What happened?” or, if you have a true friend out there, “Let me at him!”

Technology has become an essential component of our lives.

It enhances our daily living, simplifying our lifestyles and allowing us immediate access to information.

But there are those few scenarios in which this resource is overused, thus resulting in the opposite effect, further complicating our lives and negatively affecting the people around us.

Welcome to the new era of dating.

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