herdirtylittleheart:
Here’s why posts like this (and other “kids these days *shakes fist* ” type sentiments) rub me the wrong way:
Do you know why our parents/grandparents/etc stayed together? BECAUSE THEY HAD NO OTHER OPTIONS! They lived in a time when divorce was against their religion or frowned upon by their culture. One of my great-grandmothers divorced her cheating alcoholic bum of a husband and was literally shunned from her entire small European village. She had to take her daughters (who she was protecting) and move, and in their new town they just told everyone her husband had DIED to avoid the negative stigma of divorce. And you know what? I bet she would have LOVED the opportunity to have messages from 7000 followers saying “go girl” and “you can do this” and “your hair looks cute” when she was going through her darkest days.
The number of couples that were stuck in abusive, loveless or unhappy marriages is staggering. The number of couples NOW stuck in abusive, loveless or unhappy marriages is also staggering. Divorce is a good option for a lot of people. (So is not getting married in the first place… but that’s a different rant.)
Yes social media can be addictive and detrimental to anyone (coupled or not) who ignores their real life partner(s) in favour of online connections, but the same can be said for ignoring your partner for work, sporting events, candy crush, fantasy football leagues, video games or any number of things. A relationship can only be successful if it is given the attention and maintenance it deserves. A relationship of any kind requires your presence.
I (like so many of you) have found meaningful and loving relationships with friends and partners online and I really detest rhetoric that tries to say online relationships can’t have depth and purpose.
In fact I come from a long line of women who could have benefited from looking around and seeing that there were PLENTY of fish in the sea.
*steps off soapbox and swims by winking at you and waving my fishy fins glub glub*
