The Facebook relationship status seems to be an important part of world we currently live in, but why is it so important and doesn't it have true meaning? After researching the true definitions of "Single" and "In a relationship" my thoughts/opinion may now be invalid. I'm still going to continue with this blog.

Let's first review the definitions of the two most important terms in a Facebook relationship status.

Single: unmarried; not married or related to the unmarried state.

Relationship: A connection between persons by blood or marriage. A sexual involvement; affair.

One thing I learned from my friend Jordan while doing the bouquet/garter toss at a wedding is that if you're not married you're single, which is technically true.  By definition if you were married and got divorced and since haven't remarried you are unmarried or divorced. Maybe people don't post that on their Facebook status because they're ashamed or embarrassed or simply don't think it's anyone else's business. The last part of that sentence is opposite the reason of this blog. People abuse and misuse the Facebook relationship status all the time.  In fact, this blog is almost like part two of my "Facebook Status No-No's".

I think it's funny how quickly people jump to Facebook to "inform" their friends of their "life changes." (I use the term "life changes" very loosely.) Let's be honest, the minute you change your relationship status you have to know it's going to stir up the social media "world." Actually, that's what you're probably hoping for: attention. I have friends on my 'fb' that change their relationship status quite often, and honestly I get some sort of sick joy out of it reading about it, I'm not gonna lie. If it wasn't changing so frequently, I probably wouldn't even notice, but such is not the case.

We all have someone on our Facebook with this habit. Habit is a good word to describe it. "Hey, I like this person and they like me." Ok, now let's run to Facebook so that eeeeevvvvveeeerrrrryyyyyone will know the new love you share. Unless someone is really creepy or really nosey no one cares about your "relationship," it's true.  How did these people function before social media? Did AOL profiles have a "relationship" option? I can't really remember. Did these people call up everyone they know and just bust out "so yeah ____ and I are in a relationship?" I doubt it. The problem is the social media overshare, and this is coming for a guy that tweets about everything and anything. There is a term "private life" for a reason.

I recently read a great blog about Facebook relationship statuses ruining dating [which you can read here] but I think it's ruining not only the dating world but also the true meaning of being in a relationship. Obviously if you're married, you're married. If you're engaged, you're engaged. Then there's "being in a relationship." You may genuinely want people to know you're proud of being someone's significant other and vice versa, but I'm going to say the latter of the people just want the attention.

I'm beginning to think we're all social media attention fiends. But seriously, at one point is it okay to change a status from "single" to "in a relationship." I think new couples, fresh dating, "talking," and people that are "seeing" someone should just keep it their relationship status at "single." Are people that insecure of themselves or the situation that they need to have their status say that they aren't single? Do people have the kind of friends that think "Oh, look who's single! I better jump on it!" Doubt it.

I would say the range of time in which it's okay to change your status if you're not married and not engaged would be six months to a year. That seems like a fair amount of time, but not a day, a week, or a month - that's kind of quick. You're just asking to jinx things by jumping the gun, in my opinion.  Certainly there are circumstances that differ and could debate this blog, but they're rare. 

Bottom line is the first sentence of this paragraph: "Facebook Relationship Status is ruining the real meaning of a being in a relationship."  It's not an advertisement, it's not a billboard, it's not an ad in the yellow pages. One would assume it was meant for REAL relationships. Then again, it's Facebook.  By the way, if it's complicated it's not a relationship. If you change your relationship status you should expect comments or "likes" and don't cry or complain when people abuse that status with rude or insensitive remarks when your "relationship" started a few weeks ago. Stop oversharing and changing your relationship status left and right. It's ruining the term "relationship."

 Remember this, you're either single, engaged, married, or divorced - it's as simple as that.