In this day and age, relationships just aren’t the same as they used to be, or as they appear in older movies. Technology, while it has revolutionized the world, has had some serious negative effects on interpersonal relationships of all kinds. While technology is commonplace in all of our lives, haven’t you ever considered how much simpler it would be if we always communicated face to face, or even just verbally? Texting seems to be the basis of many relationships nowadays, and is almost always very present in all relationships in some way, but it also happens to be one of the reasons I think relationships are not as strong anymore, and here is why.
Whenever you meet someone that you could even be remotely interested in, the automatic answer is to get his or her number. Well, in the past, the reason for getting his or her number would be so you could call that person and ask him or her out on a date, so you could get to know that person and see if you like him or her. But, the times have changed. Now, you meet that person, get his or her number and begin to text.
In the beginning, the whole process is pretty fun. We all love having someone to talk to, especially someone that doesn’t know us very well, so you get to tell them all about you, as well as learning all about them. It is all fun and games and a very low stress environment, because there is no face-to-face pressure. You don’t have to worry about saying anything stupid, because you have as much time to craft the perfect response, as well as endless help from any of your friends. You do not have to worry about looking good, eating in front of someone, wondering who is paying for froyo, or anything else for that matter. It is essentially the best set up you could have imagined. Until the other person doesn’t answer like he or she used to.
There comes a point in most texting relationships where one person decides to take about a year (or a few hours, realistically) to respond and all hell breaks loose. While this really should not be such a huge deal, it almost always is made into a huge deal. The reason being that once you are accustomed to speedy responses, you expect speedy responses, and when you take them away you wonder what you did wrong, why you aren’t good enough, or other totally unreasonable thoughts. This seems totally over the top and unnecessary, just as it should, but it is a frequent occurrence in texting relationships, and this is why it is such a love hate relationship.
Texting is an amazing tool for convenience and ease in communicating messages, but it is a crutch that almost all of society utilizes to make communicating much less stressful and pressure free. Talking to new people in person and even on the phone is so important for our interpersonal skills, and these skills are disappearing more and more. It is important to realize that texting is not everything, and most definitely not the end all, be all of every relationship.
