In Are You Going to Delete Me? Latent Profiles of Post-Relationship Breakup Social Media Use and Emotional Distress, McDaniel, Drouin, Dibble, Galovan, and Merritt argue that people’s post-breakup behavior on social media is correlated directly with their distress levels following the end of a relationship.
In this study, participants who experienced a breakup in the past year were divided into four groups – clean breakers, wistful reminiscers, ritual cleansers, and impulsives – based on their social media habits. Through their analysis, the researchers concluded that not only is emotional distress correlated with each of the social media behaviors studied, but that those who continued to monitor and interact with their ex-partners on social media reported higher levels of despair.
This study is much more tangible than some of the other ones that have been analyzed thus far, and it is obvious how connected it is to our everyday lives. I am not surprised with the results, but I would have expected ritual cleansers – who delete their social media history – to experience less anguish than clean breakers who do no deleting.
I am definitely interested to hear more about this study in class. I too am surprised that those who delete their social media history experience more feelings of sadness and despair than those who do not do any deleting. I am curious to know whether the or not the type of relationship/the breakup itself have any effect on how an individual reacts on social media. For example if the breakup was mutual than would the individuals be more inclined to become wistful reminiscers because they have no ill will towards their ex?
I find this article very interesting. This study is very applicable to our generation because we grew up with social media and are stuck with it. I know it’s a popular habit to check to see if people deleted their photos with their ex’s post break-up. People are consumed with our people’s behaviors as well, and want to create their own theories about their actions.