People always remark how /r/relationshipadvice tells everyone to break up without considering 2 self selection biases:
People in happy healthy relationships don’t ask for a lot of advice. “I love my wife, we go on weekly dates, have couples therapy, are helping each other in our careers and our sex has never been better. Wat do?” is not something people will post
If you go to a drama discussion, shockingly, more dramatic content gets more attention. More drama in relationships almost always leads to" just stop dealing with it and break up" as advice
While that is true, I think those same selection biases also make the sub quite a poor source of actual advice.
The posts obviously only talk from the perspective of one party. This makes it very easy for responders to think that the other party is unequivocally bad. I remember several times where the OP seemed in the right, until the other party reveals that the OP was lying and manipulative.
Building on point 1, the type of people who would be willing to post their problems on social media tend to also be the type of people who would be unwilling or unable to consider the other party’s perspective.
People who browse r/relationshipadvice tend not to be the types of people who appreciate nuance, nor do they tend to notice discrepancies or omissions in the story. Where a normal person might ask for more details, a responder on this sub is more likely to “trust their gut” and fill in the gaps with what they assume has happened.
There are multiple times in which a post asks for advice about what appears to be a minor problem but then gets overwhelmed with “just break up” responses
People always remark how /r/relationshipadvice tells everyone to break up without considering 2 self selection biases:
While that is true, I think those same selection biases also make the sub quite a poor source of actual advice.
The posts obviously only talk from the perspective of one party. This makes it very easy for responders to think that the other party is unequivocally bad. I remember several times where the OP seemed in the right, until the other party reveals that the OP was lying and manipulative.
Building on point 1, the type of people who would be willing to post their problems on social media tend to also be the type of people who would be unwilling or unable to consider the other party’s perspective.
People who browse r/relationshipadvice tend not to be the types of people who appreciate nuance, nor do they tend to notice discrepancies or omissions in the story. Where a normal person might ask for more details, a responder on this sub is more likely to “trust their gut” and fill in the gaps with what they assume has happened.
There are multiple times in which a post asks for advice about what appears to be a minor problem but then gets overwhelmed with “just break up” responses