Social Media Is Misinforming You About Relationships

"Relationship misinformation 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."

"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 your feed is flooded with anti-relationship content."

"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."

"We were curious to see how much relationship content can differ for men and women, so as an illustrative example, we created fresh social-media accounts and examined what was shown to us. Of course, our experience i"

Relationship misinformation is false or misleading information about relationships. Social media algorithms infer interests from what people engage with and then show content that captures and sustains attention. When users linger on anti-relationship material, their feeds can become flooded with similar content, turning curiosity into an unintended direction. Overexposure to relationship misinformation can polarize beliefs about dating. Fresh social-media accounts were used to observe differences in relationship content shown to men and women. The content often frames current or potential partners as adversaries, aligning with self-narratives that can feel common after extended time online.

Read at Psychology Today