'Unloved' wife envied Instagram couples until unromantic husband brought her 2 Lays packets — then it hit her

In this era of social media, we barely keep our personal lives private — from our achievements and failures to our relationships and breakups, everything is on the Internet. We have shifted towards a mentality that suggests anything important to us must be shared on social media, and our followers must watch it — the beauty of keeping some things private has diminished. Something similar happened with Caitlin Fladager — who goes by the username @caitlinfladager on Instagram — when she started feeling unloved after seeing her husband not post anything about her on social media — but a sudden moment of “eureka” is what restored her faith in fairytales.

Caitlin shared a post on her Instagram ranting about how her husband never shared pictures with her on social media, not even a heartfelt birthday post or a random photo with “I love my wife” tag. This kept her upset for days until a mundane incident took place in their household. Caitlin is obsessed with Salt and Vinegar chips, which she keeps around the house all the time — but one day, she ran out of them and thought she’d pick up a few packs when she visited the store. An hour later, her husband reaches home, holding 2 big packs of her favorite Salt and Vinegar chips — that is when it hit her, his love is bigger than anything social media could ever hold.

Caitlin used to feel unloved and unappreciated because her husband’s attitude towards her differed from how the women around her were being treated. Despite knowing how rarely he uses social media, she would question him, “Why don’t you ever post anything about me? Or us?” He would explain to her how he was barely active there and believed in loving her in “real life” instead. The answer did not resonate with her until the chip’s incident occurred — that's when she realized how his love is not loud, not for social media to see, but for her, and her only. In the post, she goes on to share about the little things he does for her, like warming her car when it's cold, filling up her gas tank, and kissing the ring camera goodnight because he knows she’d be watching.

Posts like these remind us of how important it has become to show others how we are supposed to feel, rather than feeling it ourselves. A survey by Shotkit proves that those “who share three or more couple selfies per week” are likely to be unhappier than couples who don’t. Only 10 percent of these couples claimed they were “very happy,” while 46 percent of couples who didn’t post on social media said they were much happier. It suggests that “trust issues” could be a reason for them to post so frequently, making others aware that they are “taken” by their partner.

“There are often mixed views on whether posting on social media regularly has positive effects on us and our relationships,” said Martin Stevens of Shotkit. “We expected there to be some disparities with the survey, but we didn’t know quite how much of a difference it could make; 128% happier is a huge amount. However, this isn’t to say that all social media sharing is bad, of course not. Perhaps the saying ‘too much of a good thing’ is true in this case. We hope that the research provided some insight and perhaps food for thought for some people.”

After going through the heartwarming post, @erin.dizayee advised, “Social media is for others. Not you. He’s keeping what’s important closest to his heart,” while @ange_un wrote, “That is real love, not flashy and in your face, love is action, not just words.” On the one hand, @dumbbeerr commented, “But there's nothing wrong in wanting to be posted? It’s not so hard to post a picture and write two-three lines for the person you actually love to make them smile? is it,” on the other hand, @morbidlifter expressed, “I’ll never understand the mindset of using social media to show your love.”

You can follow Caitlin Fladager (@caitlinfladager) on Instagram for more relationship content.