Social Media Is Misinforming You About Relationships |
Relationship misinformation on social media is “false or misleading information about relationships.”
Social media algorithms may push relationship misinformation as a byproduct of the content you engage with.
Overexposure to relationship misinformation has the potential to polarize beliefs about dating.
We observed differences between the relationship content men and women saw on social media.
Co-authored by Nick Lane.
This post is part two of a three-part series.
“Men are only after one thing.” “There are no good women left.” “All marriages are doomed to fail.” These kinds of self-narratives can seem common after spending hours online. Social media algorithms systematically push relationship misinformation that frames current or potential partners as adversaries. There’s also been a broader shift in people’s desire to date. Today, roughly half of singles say they have no interest in a relationship at all.
This led us to ask whether social media could be playing a role in the current romantic recession. In part two of this three-part series, we’ll dive deeper into how social media might be impacting your own beliefs about dating and relationships.
How Social Media Algorithms Work
Social media algorithms infer what you want to see based on the content you and others like you engage with. Algorithms, by design, show you content to see what captures and sustains your attention. Linger on an image or video badmouthing dating for a few extra seconds, and you’ll probably see more like it. What started as curiosity may take you in a direction you didn’t anticipate as........