Dating Americans have conflicting opinions about online PDA

By Victoria McNally // SWNS

Start preparing this year’s Valentine’s Day tweet now: Almost half of Americans in relationships want their partners to post more ’online PDA,’ new research reveals.

A recent survey asked 2,000 Americans — 97% of whom self-identified as having some experience with social media — to weigh on in the average public displays of affection (PDA) they encounter online.

According to the results, the average coupled social media user posts about their significant other between three and four times a month.

That may not be enough for the 46% of coupled users who said they wished their partners would share more content about them — but it’s likely too much for the 27% who want to be the subject of fewer posts.

There’s also no winning in the court of public opinion either, the data suggests.

Commissioned by From You Flowers and conducted by OnePoll, the survey also revealed that half (51%) of social media users admit to judging people who post about being in a couple “too much.”

On the other hand, almost the same number of respondents (49%) assume a relationship might be on rocks if neither member has posted recently — within the past six months, on average.

Overall, a third (36%) of all social media users polled say they typically enjoy seeing romantic PDA on their timelines, whereas 24% say they dislike or even hate it.

However, examples of platonic or familial PDA don’t suffer from the same kind of backlash; only 7% of respondents reacted negatively to seeing posts about other peoples’ friends and family members, compared to 52% who reacted positively.

Speaking of which, while 81% of respondents have published a PDA post of their own in the past, their intentions may not always have been pure, either. Roughly three in five (61%) say they feel pressured to post about what everyone else is posting about during a holiday celebration.

Another 56% feel guilty if they don’t post about their loved ones on birthdays or anniversaries, and 60% even will plan or schedule their content in advance of these occasions.

Considering that families across the country are still social distancing from each other, however, 44% admitted they’ve grown more tolerant of PDA than they were before the pandemic.

“Now that we’re so isolated, it’s so much more important to document those times we feel connected to each other, whether you share them online or not,” said Michael Chapin, CEO of From You Flowers. “Seeing someone’s post or text message about the gift you sent them isn’t the same as face-to-face interaction, but it certainly helps to remind us that we’re not as alone as we feel right now.”

But even in quarantine, you can sometimes overdo it: 73% of respondents believe that people still post too much information about themselves online, even now.

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