Spring is in the air and classes are in full bloom. As we move along through the rest of the semester, we’ll see grades dropping, breakdowns rising, and relationships blossoming. New ones beginning, old ones still going strong, and some falling apart. Regardless of everyone’s current relationship status, it has come to my attention that you, yes you, are in a relationship, currently with many, many people. If you’re reading this being concerned about your apparent singledom or about to question your significant other’s whereabouts at all times, I’m not talking about a tangible person. I have one troublemaker in mind and her name is social media.

Social media comes in all forms and I’m sure we, as college students, have been aware of her for years and know her quite well. Whether she’s in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even Snapchat, she is the worst member in your relationship. Technology is a great thing, and yes social media can be pretty great too, but it could also be a killer in disguise.

How many times have you looked through an ex’s or current love’s profile? Scrolling and clicking, looking for any incriminating evidence you can find. Likes determine how great you look or how cute of a couple you are. Retweets and favorites must be taken into consideration before tweeting anything. (And apparently if you favorite everything someone says, it basically means you love them). If you aren’t “Facebook Official” are you even really dating? By the way, your Snapchat best friends will start a fight if you’re not talking to the right people. Thank goodness they took away our ability to see who they all are, right?

While social media started out as a way of communicating and keeping friends and family up to date on the things going on in our lives, it has slowly but surely turned into the monster under our beds. Perhaps this doesn’t pertain to you at all. Maybe you’re one of the few people out there who have their social media problem under control and you can’t identify with this home wrecker. If you are, I salute you and people like you. It took me a long time to get to that point myself. Hopefully, soon we will all be more like you. The odds of that are doubtful as technology continues to grow, but I hope more people strive to not let social media rule their lives.

Social media is great. I use it and I love it. But it has caused more problems than it’s worth and I’m slowly learning to back away from the negativity of it and appreciate it for what it’s worth. I challenge everyone to take a step back and look at their lives and social media. If you strive to be someone’s Man Crush Monday or Woman Crush Wednesday or whatever other catchy hashtag kids these days come up with, that’s great. It’s nice to do and to feel appreciated like that! But, don’t let that dictate how much someone likes you. I bet they love you regardless! Don’t let how many likes you get determine how beautiful you think you are. Just because someone gets more retweets than you doesn’t mean you aren’t awesome! Don’t look for things that you know are going to make you mad. 20 years from now is all of this going to matter so much? I’m sure we’ll all be worried about our top friends on MySpace again in a few years, but until then, take a step away, and live your life in the moment. Drink a Starbucks and don’t post a picture about it. I dare you. #stopsocialmediafromruiningrelationships2k17