Long distance relationships: Social media a boon or bane?

The new study compares the relative importance of social networks and explores the role they play in helping to maintain a close-by versus a long-distance romantic relationship.

Co-authors Cherrie Joy Billedo, Peter Kerkhof, and Catrin Finkenauer, VU University Amsterdam and University of the Philippines, describe differences in the intensity of use and the types of uses of social network sites between the two groups studied and report how use of social network sites allows individuals to access information about, and monitor the activities of, romantic partners, and how that can be used to gauge a partner's involvement in the relationship and loyalty, with potentially positive or detrimental effects.

Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium, said that social network sites were used more frequently by those in long-distance relationships and long-distance relationships become more common, and continue to succeed, it became increasingly valuable to understand the role that technology played in strengthening or damaging a romantic relationship.

The study is published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.