Social networks on Valentine’s Day: beautiful and overemotional

If sugar is not enough this month, you may well begin your day in social networks and you will drink the most sweetened coffee of your life. It is February 14th and love turns emotional, honey, candy…love has today 24 hours of fame and it will be trending topic for sure while it turns viral and people take millions of different selfies.

Over three billion people use Internet worldwide, which stands for more than half of the world population, and they surf through social networks; hence the number of virtual loves, which is for some, the only way. In Cuba, the level of connectivity has increased and Facebook is the most popular social network, so there we read posts where songs, phrases, flattering comments, pictures, every art of love we know very well in Cuba make headlines. 

From Nauta Hogar or data bonus, keeping distant loves alive is something common for Cubans. Some tell us their stories of reunions, teenage loves that have resurfaced again, even relationships that have come up from Messenger.

Social networks have changed the history of love. It is not necessary to experience a face-to-face meeting to know what the other person is thinking about, and what their mood is. It looks like that Cupid is taking advantage of it.

A few years ago, a survey by Chéip and Men's Fítnes magazines related sexuality to the use of the Internet and cell phones, concluding that 80 percent of the women and 58 percent of the men surveyed thought that the use of social networks led to having sex earlier. More than 60 percent of those interviewed said they got a date via text message, and about half did so via Facebook message.

Unfortunately, the impact is not only for the good of love, a study by the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Mexico indicated that thirty percent of Facebook users have had problems with their partners due to certain inappropriate messages or contacts, and the fact that one of the spouses spends too much time on this activity. And the United States Bar Association published that one in five divorces in that country has to do with the use of this network.

But that fact is not the one these days. Around February 14, everything is cute and sweet. There are couple photos, large and small poems, flowers and virtual kisses. There are also memes, enough to crack up with laughter and broken hearts exposed enough to break down in tears.

And this is how, between ironies and tenderness, the celebration of Valentine's Day takes place on social networks, as in real life. There we find the eternal lovers in the Romeo and Juliet style, but the illusion killers are also connected, always ready to remind you that you will die alone or deceived; the loners by choice, those who look at their loneliness with humor, those who have never fallen in love, those who have spent centuries without the courage to declare themselves and seize the opportunity, the enthusiasts who see love anywhere and, without a doubt, they will always search for it.

Commerce is also there, of course, that mental debate to choose between a flower or a jewelry, as well as the headache caused by not having what to give and not having someone to give a gift. The best thing is to find so much joy to live. People grateful to live one more day, devoted to convey our feelings and pause our lives for details…

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff