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HC Illinois: New Age Relationship Rules

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Illinois chapter.

New technology and social norms have changed the way relationships work.  Couples face a host of unspoken rules about technology. Here are a few guidelines for how to deal with them.

Exchanging Passwords: It’s a bad idea for couples to exchange passwords for any medium (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc).  You should respect each other’s privacy — and if you both feel secure in a healthy relationship, there is no need to hack into each other’s technology.

Facebook Relationship Status: To each couple, its own.  However, it is annoying when a couple changes its status every other day — either put up your status or don’t.  And if your friends and family know you’re in a relationship, the people you barely talk to on Facebook don’t need to know.

 
Online Status: Busy, available, invisible — use with caution!  Sometimes, people will pop up whom you don’t want to speak to, or talking to them will only cause tension in your relationship.  Make yourself available, yet cautious choose who to respond to.
 
Blogging: Once you put something on the Internet, it stays up forever.  You can’t erase what you put online.  You should never write about personal moments or post private pictures.
 

Browsing the Web: Don’t go on Facebook while you’re with your significant other. Unless you’re both Facebooking, it’s rude.  Usually, it’s just a distraction and you’ll stop paying attention to your boyfriend or girlfriend while spending time together.
 
Phones at Dinner: If you’re texting your best bud or responding to an urgent email from work, make your phone action quick.  There’s nothing worse than trying to have a nice dinner while your significant other is tweeting or otherwise engaged in another form of social media.

 

Emily Cleary is a 22-year-old news-editorial journalism major hoping to work in the fashion industry, whether that be in editorial, marketing, PR or event planning is TBD. With internships at Teen Vogue and StyleChicago.com, it's clear that she is a fashion fanatic. When she's not studying (she's the former VP of her sorority, Delta Delta Delta), writing for various publications or attending meetings for clubs like Business Careers in Entertainment Club, Society of Professional Journalists, The Business of Fashion Club, or for her role as the Assistant Editor of the Arts & Entertainment section of her school's magazine, she's doing something else; you will never find her sitting still. She loves: running (you know those crazy cross-country runners...), attending concerts and music festivals, shopping (of course), hanging out with friends, visiting her family at home, traveling (she studied abroad in London when she was able to travel all over Europe), taking pictures, tweeting, reading stacks and stacks of magazines and newspapers while drinking a Starbuck's caramel light frappacino, blogs and the occasional blogging, eating anything chocolate and conjuring up her next big project. Living just 20 minutes outside of Chicago, she's excited to live there after graduation, but would love to spend some time in New York, LA, London or Paris (she speaks French)!