Temporarily healthy? Social media, virtual connections lack long-term stability

By Harasankar Adhikari

Human relationships are purposive connections between individuals, groups, or organizations. They differ according to biological, emotional, social, cultural, economic, and religious factors. These relationships create bonds among people and are generally classified as primary (family and relatives) or secondary (peers, friends, colleagues, and other temporary associations). Primary relationships often arise from blood ties, lineage, and other biological factors, while secondary relationships evolve through social, political, religious, and professional interactions.

Human society is sustained by a network of relationships that carry social and moral significance. In the current age of technological advancement, social media has introduced a new form of interaction—virtual relationships—which have begun to strongly influence daily life across the world. While human relationships involve both connection and communication, virtual relationships are largely limited to communication alone.

They can become emotionally intense because they often attach themselves to a heightened emotional state similar to limerence, a condition marked by cognitive preoccupation, desire, and emotional dependency. This emotional bond, whether formed offline or online, may go beyond physical attraction and can sometimes lead to a desire for deeper intimacy.

However, such bonds can also break quickly due to misunderstandings or other sensitive issues, causing psychological distress to one or both partners. The emotional attachment may then shift to someone else, and in some instances, breakups have even led to acts of violence. Yet the cycle of emotional attachment often continues despite negative experiences, similar to a person repeatedly consuming food that once caused sickness and vomiting, forgetting the cause and repeating the same pattern. Emotional behaviour in virtual relationships often follows similar repetitive cycles.

Excessive involvement in virtual interactions can weaken or threaten direct human relationships, particularly primary ones. The lack of discipline in relational expectations and desires has contributed to disturbances and breakdowns in networks of relationships, where neither biological ties nor emotional bonds withstand the strain created by emotional upheaval and the influence of consumerist values. Increasingly, relationships are shaped by the fulfilment of personal needs and wants.

Social media and virtual connections can temporarily seem healthy, but they often lack long-term stability. Their perceived advantages—easy to form, easy to end, with no responsibility or long-term commitment—make them appealing but also superficial. They provide information and constant engagement, drawing individuals from early morning to late night, regardless of age.

As a result, even small or nuclear families often find limited time for genuine interaction, despite living under the same roof. Communication may shrink to brief eye contact or simple instructions. Qualities essential to healthy human relationships—respect, empathy, care, and responsibility—are being eroded. People increasingly express anger, irritation, inattentiveness, distrust, disrespect, and disobedience. Over time, this can contribute to heightened aggression and a greater tendency toward conflict or crime.

In this process, society appears to be moving toward a more mechanical, emotionless way of living, evoking the atmosphere of Tagore’s Raktakarabi. The evolution of relationships from human to virtual reflects a profound shift in the structure and nature of social life.

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