SOCIAL MEDIA: NEW MENACE TO MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIPS: How To Manage The Distractions And Effects Of Social Media On Relationships

By William Appiah and Dorothy Appiah

The advent of social media has brought several advantages into society. It has for example improved communications. However, the downside which is subtle is that it is creating more distractions in marriages than can be expected. Couples do not have time for interpersonal communication and intimacy. The resulting effect is pushing them sometimes

• Language: English
• Publisher: The House Of Change
• Release date: Jul 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781910894491

William Appiah

William & Rev. Mrs. Dorothy Appiah are Christian Counsellors and Life Breakthrough Coaches. William and Dorothy have been counselling individuals and couples for over a decade. They do face to face counselling as well as group counselling. They also provide their services to some clients via Skype, phone, and email. They also have special skills and interests in Personal development and Relationship Coaching and are also Foccus Inc, USA, trained in marriage preparation inventory. William is an Author, Publisher and a Public Speaker on Sustainable Marriages as well as Personal Development. He is also an Infopreneur, a Communications Specialist, and a Networking expert. He obtained his B.A (Hons) degree and MSc. in Environmental Policy from the University of Ghana, Legon and University of London, UK. He also has a Graduate Diploma in Communication Studies from the School of Communications, University of Ghana.

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INTRODUCTION

The institution of marriage is held strongly by most Christians. However, in the Western world, marriage is not a very stable institution as it was once perceived. Apart from the high divorce rate, marriage does not seem to have very good public relations. One of the issues which have currently caused much distraction in marital relationships is social media.

The advent of social media has brought several advantages into society. It has for example improved communications. However, the downside which is subtle is that it is creating more distractions in marriages than can be expected. Couples do not have time for interpersonal communication and intimacy. The resulting effect is pushing them sometimes to have affairs due to lack of attention, intimacy, and show of love. If couples do not get intimate, do not have time to talk and listen to each other, then they will be creating problems in the relationship.

This book, Social Media: A New Menace To Meaningful Relationships, is written to inform married couples about the dangers of too much attention to social media to the detriment of improving their relationship.

Some relationships over rely, for example, on sending text messages to the extent that, even at home, some couples prefer to send text messages to their spouses instead of talking to each other.

This book, which focuses on How to Manage The Distractions And Effects Of Social Media On Relationships, details the effects that social media has on relationships. It also details the health effects on individuals and provides solutions.

There have been interesting stories such as men divorcing their wives through text messages and others via various instant messaging programmes. There is one which we read recently, about a man who was so annoyed about the refusal of his wife to have sex with him and the excuses that she gave. The man tabulated the excuses and published them on social media. This attracted several comments from other individuals and married couples.

The failure of individual Christians to prioritise their marriage at the expense of using social media does not help in promoting the marriage. The good book encourages us to let our light shine before men so that they may see our good deeds and give glory to our Father who is in heaven. Our marriage is the only one that others may see and be encouraged to stay married. It is important for couples to give much attention to their marriage.

You don’t have to miss out on the relevance of social media in this modern age. But remember that having a happy and fulfilled marriage devoid of the distractions of social media will help sustain your relationship for a long time.

C H A P T E R  O N E

Social Media

Rise and distractions

The rise of social media has its own effects on marriages. Most communication takes place on various social media such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Skype. There are several cases where couples have linked effectively through social media during the initial courting. For example, couples setting up updates via texting or sending tweets. We have heard of couples settling issues via Facebook. We have also heard of cases where couples divorced via texting.

The two key factors driving the social web currently according to a GlobalWebIndex study are:

-Mobile: with the number of people accessing the internet via a mobile phone increasing by 60.3% to 818.4 million in the last 2 years.

- Older users’ adoption: On Twitter the 55-64-year-old age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with a 79% growth rate since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+ networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

These two key factors are keeping the social web bubbling along. So maybe the reason your grandparents aren’t turning up to that dinner party is that they have now discovered Facebook and Twitter! said Jeff Bullas, of Jeff