Hard Launch! The new art of relationship reveals

Announcements of coupledom are a major deal on social and the new trend? Going big and bold, says Emma Firth

- Emma Firth

THERE'S nothing more confusing, more engrossing, a subject that weighs heavily on our collective conscious, than modern love. What are the new rules of attraction? Who, in fact, sets the terms? Why do we care so much? Spectators questioning whether someone is sharing too much - or, too little about their current relationship on Instagram, say, with one innocent post having the power to illicit a smorgasbord of emotion from a digital bystander. From comparison and titillating intrigue to- on the darker landing scale - ick factor and deep-rooted suspicion (where a post is deduced swiftly as a mere tool, staged, to gloss over cracks in said couple's private life, rather than just looking at a photograph of a pair looking marginally hotter and happier than they normally would and swiftly erasing the pixels from one's memory).

When it comes to navigating what constitutes an objectively healthy partnership, we're a hung parliament in the age of social media. A world where new terminologies are born and spiral and have the real power to make you question whether you're in a 'situationship', being 'future fished' or breadcrumbed'. Dating these days comes with its own dictionary, packed full of philosophical riddles to solve.