The Book of Faces

So today I, against my better judgement, put my relationship status on Facebook. 'Why does this qualify for a blog post, especially considering you haven't blogged in so long Marinda?' I hear you cry. It just got me thinking about how social media has turned relationships into this weird status symbol - pun intended. For years I have refused to even show the relationship status bit on my profile feeling that, not only did it not sum up who I was, but also it is private information that shouldn't matter to my friend's mums and that person I worked with once on a promotion. There is also one big reason not to have your status on there though...what if it all goes wrong? Breaking up is a horrible thing let alone to have the added pain of changing your Facebook status so some person you worked with once can console you with a colon and an open bracket. Don't even get me started on the nasty people that break up with people by changing relationship status - this blog is not for them, stop reading if this is you. They probably can't read anyway. People do think it is odd if you don't update your status though, 'are you ashamed of him?', *knowing look* 'are you not sure about it?' *knowing look* or when indeed they find out you have a boyfriend, 'oh I didn't see it on Facebook?' *upward inflection and hurt tone*. I have noticed a trend for announcing engagements on social media, perhaps even with just a picture of a ring on a hand - I am not sure how I feel about his but I guess it is cheaper than 'save the date' cards. 'So why have you done it, Marinda?' Yes well...now that a huge picture of my face has appeared on his profile and vice versa with huge lettering announcing our coupledom with many people 'liking' his fact I am wondering what possessed me. I guess I just feel sure of our relationship after being together for a few months, and I did wonder if it bothered him that we hadn't put it up on Facebook as it does seem to be the done thing; maybe he was one of the people asking if I was ashamed of him although he would never say so. I am slightly flattered people have bothered to 'like' this happening, but I realise I am small fry considering the amount of engagements being announced every day by my friends. Despite this, I am happy with my little achievement. Even if every time I go on our 'timelines' it is there for all to see stretched across the page as breaking news. Ah well a couple more updated statuses and 'shared' memes and it will be yesterday's news, pushed down into the ether of 'Timeline'.