Increased Use of Social Media May Decrease Relationship Satisfaction

Even strong relationships may fall prey to excessive social media use, suggests a new study.

Coming out of Oxford University, researcher Dr. Bernie Hogan found using social media too much may decrease relationship satisfaction.

Researchers studied more than 24,000 married couples and questioned both the strength of their relationships and their activity levels across 10 different social media channels.

“Using social media too much may

decrease relationship satisfaction.”

Hogan’s research builds off a previous study from 2005 that introduced the idea of “media multiplexity,” or the ability to communicate through multiple channels. The original theory only accounted for email, telephone and chat communication.

Hogan said he wanted to see how the increasing number of communication channels available today further impacted someone’s relationship.

While acknowledging the fact social media primarily exists to support the (often disparate) ties between people, Hogan noted:

“There may be a cut-off point after which the increasing complexity of maintaining so many separate communications threads starts to undermine relationship ties,” he said.

Source: Oxford University via IndianExpress.com. Photo source: shinyshiny.tv.