Once upon a time, word of mouth was enough to let your close friends know that there was a special man in your life. Nowadays, your relationship is only official once announced on Facebook...

Though often entertaining to watch, I can’t say that I’d be one to document the ups and downs of my relationships in a somewhat public arena. Thanks for using your status updates to share, in exact detail, the wonderful day he planned for you on your birthday. It’s nice to know that you love each other enough to proclaim it to people you haven’t seen in years. Perhaps it was too much however, to put up those smoochy photos..?

Sure, Facebook’s a great vehicle for maintaining communication with a whole bunch of friends, relatives and acquaintances. But it sometimes seems that people have relationships so that they can proclaim it on Facebook, rather than actually live it. Why else share so much intimate information? Perhaps I am a private person, but I feel that people go too far with the information they share online.

I think the worst part is when a relationship ends. As if that isn’t enough to be going through, you also have to change your “In a relationship with...” status to “Single”; which is bound to come up on many a home page for all to see. Followed quickly by the shocked comments of the curious, who (rather than giving you a call), expect you to divulge what went wrong right there on your profile page. There has to be a better way!

My solution? Facebook’s great, but it doesn’t need to know everything. I simply don’t have a relationship status up on my profile at all. That’s a personal choice of course, but for everyone maybe toning down the free-for-all online lovin’ wouldn’t go astray!