“Babe, Look!" A Phenomenological Investigation of Social Media’s Influence on Adolescent Couples' Romantic Relationships

• Main Authors: Bartolome, Eugene O., Biscocho, Ralf G.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: adolescence; cyberpsychology; romantic relationships; social comparison; social media romantic content
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/conf_shsrescon/2023/paper_ghi/5; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/conf_shsrescon/article/1850/viewcontent/_Babe__Look___A_Phenomenological_Investigation_of_Social_Media_s_Influence_on_Adolescent_Couples__Romantic_Relationships.docx.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

With the social media explosion over the past years, adolescents have become one of its major users. Hence, the connection and impact of social media on adolescents have been widely examined. However, studies on the influence of social media on adolescents’ romantic relationships, especially in the Philippine context, are apparently meager. Therefore, this study chiefly explores the impacts of social media romantic content (SMRC) on the romantic relationships of six adolescent couples selected through purposive sampling. We also aimed to uncover the reasons for and processes in the couples’ consumption of this SMRC. After doing a thematic analysis, interview data revealed that (1) social media provides topics for conversation and (2) a source of entertainment. As for the processes by which adolescent couples consume romantic content, three themes emerged: (1) social media as a learning avenue, (2) selective consumerism, and (3) the unintentional watching of romance-related content. Finally, regarding the influence of social media romantic content on the couples’ relationship, two general themes emanated: the positive and negative impacts, with each of them having subthemes. With these findings, we posit that social media has become a fertile venue for adolescents’ cultivation of their romantic relationships and that SMRC plays a pivotal role in their romantic exploration and conception. With this, we put forward certain recommendatory remarks for future investigations.