The Impact of Technology on Millennial Relationships
Us Millennials can get a bad rap. We are lazy, do not like to work hard, and are damaged by being told we are special. When I think of Millennials I think of someone who graduated when the economy crashed so we feel those emotional struggles. I think of people who want to invent and create start-ups since we do not want to start at the bottom. We are inventive, open-minded, advocate for others, and are open about mental health and wanting to be the best version of ourselves. I also think we are taking more time before we marry or have kids due to taking our 20’s to be a time of identity searching.
What is classified as being part of the millennial generation varies from what you read on the internet, but I would classify Millennials as people in their mid 30’s to early/middle 20’s. We are the ones that as kids did not have smart phones or the Internet. Some of the later ones did have Internet but it was not as accessible as it is today. We have a unique relationship with the Internet and technology. When I polled people asking what they feel are positive and negative characteristics about our generation and how that relates to dating/relationships many people mentioned technology being a positive and negative factor. So for this blog I will focus on Millenials and how social media and technology impacts how interact and form relationships. In the future, I will continue to discuss other unique characteristics Millennials face with relationships.
The first theme I want to discuss is less meaningful connections with their partners. This can look like people scrolling on their phone or tablet versus engaging with their partner. Due to many people working in the field of technology, they may also be spending more time on their computer at home. People also can use their phone as a distraction from dealing with conflict with their partner. Now instead of sitting in that awkward silence which forces you to deal with conflict people can better ignore it by just playing on their phone.
A second point I want to mention is that social media has improved and negatively impacted our way of dating. On the positive side, more people are able to connect. One person who identify as LGBTQI mentioned that you are not able to always tell who identifies as LGBTQI so now they have a way to meet more people. But, on the other hand, a negative of online dating is the idea that “there is always another person out there. It leads people to not want to work on conflict and maybe breakup sooner because they feel there may be a better person out there or feel they no longer have anything in common when at one time they were very much connecting.
Last point I want to make is there are less genuine connections due to searching for validation through social media along with having a lot of social interactions and conversation through it as well. On Facebook and Instagram, people will discuss less meaningful topics that are very surface level. Due to this, people sometimes struggle with having meaningful conversations in person. Also people will post about their relationships on social media for “likes” and to present a perfect image of their relationship versus actually forming a connecting with their partner in real life.
Jennifer Schaap
If you feel that technology has caused a wedge between you and your partner or that technology is causing you frustration in terms of dating, feel free to reach out to a fellow Millennial and we can discuss it in therapy. You can give us a call at 813-434-3639!
