“Pragmatic” Approach to Social ...

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, here’s a story that proves once again that life is better than fiction.

Having been married for 20+ years, I never experienced the “anguish” of dealing with social media withdrawls from a romance gone south.

Apparently, it’s not easy.

NPR recently ran the story, “When Social Media and Romance Mix, It’s Complicated,” that explored how the very digital habits that bring convenience to our lives “can make our personal relationships more complicated, especially the romantic variety.”

As exhibit A, I give you the saga of my youngest son’s friend who decided on a college far from home.

Figuring he wasn’t cut out for a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, he concluded the relationship needed to end.

But the idea of ending everything, including social media interactions, all at once seemed way too painful.

Instead, he proposed – probably could have found a better verb – a schedule to his girlfriend to systematically ramp down the social interactions between the two parties.

As you see in the game plan below, the social media interactions dialed down over a period of six weeks.

Number of Facebook Post Graph

Number Of Text Messages

Number Of Skype Video Calls

No word if he’s been invited to share the stage with Dr. Phil.

In a recent Valentine’s Day study by CouponCabin.com and Harris Interactive, 47% of single U.S. adults agree that the prevalence of the Internet and social media has a negative impact on romance (darn that Al Gore). In the same study, 64% said that texting is the primary form of communication.

This last data point is an interesting one. Cleverness in word play joins the traditional variables – looks, lifestyle, etc. – in the romance sphere.

Bringing it back to my son’s friend, perhaps he was simply trying to make the best of a bad situation.

What do you think?

Note: If you enjoyed this post, you might check out “#LoveLocal Campaign: Savvy Communications Leverages Valentine’s Day.”


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