If your partner is addicted to Instagram, your relationship probably won’t work out.
Here are 5 reasons why I’d recommend never dating an Instagram addict.
1. They’re Addicted To Validation
Is your partner creating dozens of Instagram posts and stories per week? Are they mostly posting about themselves and the mundane details of their lives?
This is nearly always because they’re addicted to validation. Indeed, social media notifications give us a dopamine rush that has been compared to snorting cocaine.
Your partner might say they’re only using Instagram to connect with friends, but are they flirting and showing off their body in every other post? There’s only one reason anyone would do that, and it’s to entice the opposite sex.
Perhaps they’re not actively looking to cheat. Maybe they’re only posting for validation from men. But this is likely to cause deeper problems in the relationship.
Some IG addicts might call you ‘insecure’ if you can’t handle people sliding in their DMs. But they’re the ones seeking that attention and causing that insecurity.
They might not have cheated on you yet, but they’re attracting situations where cheating could happen. If they’re seeking validation online, they’re probably doing it in the real world too.
A relationship where your partner didn’t do that would be far less stressful.
2. Inflated Egos
If your partner is attractive, they’re probably being overwhelmed with compliments and offers in their DMs.
These messages might only be from simps and f-boys, but they can still balloon her ego.
A constant stream of validation can turn your partner into someone who demands everything while offering nothing in return.
3. Low Self-Esteem
Maybe your partner isn’t confident enough to post sexy pictures on Instagram. They might have a private account to stop random men luring over their content.
That’s good for your relationship, but this app could still be doing a number on her self-esteem.
An Instagram addict spends hours browsing pictures of women with perfect skin and bodies.
Consciously, she knows they’re using filters and photo editing software. But, if she’s browsing through these pictures for hours per day, they become her reality.
Confident women could suffer from the same problem. Even successful models could feel insecure when scrolling through photoshopped images of hotter women all day.
This is a problem for you as well. It’s not fun to date a woman with self-esteem issues.
These women are more likely to:
- become insecure and controlling;
- start arguments about your female friends;
- fall into codependent relationships.
Women with low self-esteem are also the most likely to require validation outside their relationship, and we’ve explored how damaging that can be.
Dating women with inflated egos can be rough, but partners with low self-esteem can be just as stressful.
4. Unreasonable Comparisons
Social media isn’t real life. It’s a fantasy world where everyone looks as astounding as possible.
If your girlfriend scrolls through Instagram for hours per day, it can warp her perception of reality.
She’s most likely being bombarded with images of handsome guys with perfect bodies. She’s seeing women showing off gifts from their perfect boyfriends. And she can’t help but compare that to her imperfect relationship.
It’s natural for humans to make comparisons to see where they fit in the hierarchy. But if your girlfriend is addicted to Instagram, her comparisons are distorted.
She’s comparing her life to the top 1% of society. These Insta-couples aren’t uploading their arguments or their quiet nights in. They only post their heavily-edited highlights. The grass always looks greener on the Gram.
But, an Instagram addict is still prone to wondering why her life isn’t so perfect.
When your partner feels like that and has an inbox packed with thirsty guys, how is a normal relationship supposed to satisfy her?
5. Dreadful Attention Spans
The ‘doom scroll’ design of Instagram trains our brains to expect a dopamine hit every few seconds. When you use it for hours per day, it will fry your dopamine receptors and ruin your focus.
With time, it will become more difficult to concentrate on anything for more than a few seconds.
An Instagram or TikTok addict may become incapable of reading a book or listening to a college lecture. It’s already happening to the younger generations. Many can’t watch television or eat dinner with friends without scrolling through their phones.
If you’re looking to be in a ‘power couple’ that grows and achieves things together, you shouldn’t date an Instagram addict. They won’t have the attention span to create anything meaningful.
If you made it to the bottom of this article without checking your phone, give yourself a high five. Your brain hasn’t yet been destroyed.
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My articles teach young men how to escape their comfort zones, improve their mental health and make better dating decisions. Follow me on Medium for more useful advice.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Andrey Zaychuk on Unsplash
