Introduction:
Just like any other relationship that is formed between two people in the throes of intimacy, long distance relationships are filled with struggle and sometimes heartache. However, the question is, are these relationships worth it? If two people’s love is so strong for each other, it stands to reason that no distance would come between them. Perhaps the old adage speaks most in saying, “true love conquers all” – distance included.
After experiencing a long distance relationship first hand, I have found that the distance can, in fact, provide more unique and special aspects than many would normally consider. When I met my girlfriend online through social media, it was very casual at first. Short and subtle exchanges on the internet became heart felt lettered correspondence and before realizing it – we had come to the mutual conclusion of finding someone truly special. However, there is only one problem; the 1,200 miles down the coast between us.
Thesis:
Today, it has become apparent that we are truly living in the digital age. The increasing availability of the internet has created an ability to form connections like never before and through the ever increasing depth of social media websites – they have created a vast human network that reaches to all corners of the globe, providing abilities to cultivate and maintain personal relationships, perhaps most importantly, long distance relationships, that has not previously existed in our time.
Long Distance Relationships and Social Media/Networking:
The beginnings of long distance relationships come in many forms. Judging strictly by their name basis, people might believe that these relationships are formed and cultivated from long distance from the beginning (which is...
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...ings from various studies that long distance relationships have increasingly become two things: one, far more common in the modern age through the use of social media and the internet, and two, these relationships are actually being found to cultivate a greater level of disclosure and communication between partners, therefore contributing to their overall happiness and long term success. Currently living in a long distance relationship, I believe that these findings are consistent with my own experiences. I speak with my partner every day and when we do, we speak at a very heartfelt level with candor and honesty to overcome the difficulties of lacking face-to-face interaction and presenting ourselves within a digital medium. In the words of James Joyce and his novel “The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” perhaps truly “absence is the highest form of presence.”
...er-relationship through the lens and personal experience of the author Meghan Daum. After being exposed to the ups and downs that left a deep scar in the author, she concludes that the physical world stands as an obstacle in front of online-relationships. Overall, the author did a good job in presenting her idea and supporting it using personal experience and detailed descriptions. Yet she fails when restricting her support to her personal encounters and lacked power due to the many logical fallacies presented earlier such as her constant generalization, emotional appeals and finally the lack of counter argument. In the end, the reader is left with questions concerning virtual love, the physical world, and the ultimate desire to attain happiness since it’s quite hard to imagine that someone would be convinced with the idea of Daum simply due to her own experience.
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
Long distance relationships (also known as LDR’s) are one of the toughest types of relationships to maintain. Many variables can affect this type of relationship
The “Love, Internet Style” by David Brooks and “Why Jane Austen Would Approve Online Dating” by Elizabeth Kantor both discuss certain aspects of online romance and draw conclusions about online dating’s effectiveness. Brooks’ piece informs the reader of similarities and differences between online romance and courtship rituals of the past, with particular focus on how men and women behave in online dating situations. Kantor’s informative piece uses comparison and contrast primarily to highlight comparisons between online dating and assembly balls from Jane Austen’s novels. In Brooks’ essay, his thesis states that “[t]he online dating world is superficially cynical. . . But love is what this is all about.
Social networking and other social technology allows for interactions to occur between friends and family regardless of their location. While people remain social through communicating at a constant rate, the essence of face-to-face interactions is in part affected. In romantic relationships, open and honest communication with one’s partner is critical to the trust and development of the relationship. Young adults use social technology such as the Internet and mobile phones on a daily basis to maintain their relationships. Due to the miscommunication that often occurs from not a lack of face-to-face interactions, social technology shapes the way romantic relationships function. Therefore, social technology impacts romantic relationships through a technological determinist outlook, leading to trust and dissatisfaction issues through the Internet and mobile devices, thus negatively changing face-to-face relationships. Different rhetoric of online communication shapes and transforms problems such as deception in online dating, social monitoring and control on social networking sites, creates negative interpretations and implications of text messages, and thus creates a new image and mindset of romantic relationships.
In her article “Friends Indeed?” Joel Garreau explains that for two decades, online social networks have been touted as one of the finest flowerings of our new era. But what is the strength of ties so weak as to barely exist? Who will lend you lunch money? Who’s got your back?” Technology has overtaken individuals by social media, allowing many people to communicate online rather than having face-to-face communication. Many “relationships” begin online, and end online. Although, true relationships are rarely created fast, it gradually grows and becomes stronger and stronger over the years. However, in our immediate society this is not the case. But the questions still remains, as Joel Garreau points out “Who would lend you lunch money?” in other words, who will help you physically not online. In our impatient society, technologies influenced the way individual communicate, and that often times leads to depression, loneliness and addictions.
The essay “Homeward Bound” By Janet Wu reminds us that we can have feelings towards people who we are so different from us, also it shows us the importance of having this kind of relationship no matter the contrast. Wu talks about her and her grandmother. Her father was separated from his family in the 20th century, which made him move to the US. But her father has tried to contact his family for 30 years, until he came to know that his mother and brother were alive, so the first thing he did was to gather his family and go to China. When Wu first met her grandmother, they both had feelings towards each other, Wu says “And yet we communicated something strange and beautiful. I found it easy
Advances in technology have complicated the way in which people are connecting with others around them and how it separates people from reality. In “Virtual Love” by Meghan Daum, she illustrates through the narrator 's point of view how a virtual relationship of communicating through emails and text messages can mislead a person into thinking that they actually have a bond with a person whom they have stuck their ideals onto and how the physical worlds stands as an obstacle in front of their relationship when the couple finally meets. In comparison, the article … While Daum and X discuss that technology pushes us apart and disconnects us from the physical world, they evoke a new light into explaining how technology creates the illusion of making
By not having the luxury of face-to-face communication, due to the distance, maintaining the relationship can be more difficult because levels of uncertainty can be very high. The couple must learn to reduce uncertainty because “interpersonal relationships develop as participants reduce uncertainty about each other” (Parks & Adelman, 1983, pg. 55). It has been “found that physical distance was an uncertainty-inducing event” (Aylor & Danton, 2001, pg. 175). It is also suggested that “although uncertainty is likely to occur in all established relationships, it may be even more likely in LDRs, as physical distance is a common source of relational uncertainty” (Aylor & Danton, 2001, pg. 175). Insecurity can be felt pertaining to your partner or the relationship if you have a high level of uncertainty in your partner or relationship, and it is likely that you have a hard time trusting the person.
“We’d rather e-mail than meet; we’d rather text than talk on the phone,” says Paul Booth, “an assistant professor of media and cinema studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago” (Keller). Paul Booth is saying people are alright with not speaking in person these days. New technology is decreasing the chance of face to face communication each day. Booth puts a lot of emphasis on the fact that even though people talk more online, you don’t get as linked as you would speaking
“Social media, a web-based and mobile technology, has turned communication into a social dialogue, and dominates the younger generation and their culture. As of 2010, Generation Y now outnumbers Baby Boomers, and 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network” (Qualman 1). Social media now accounts for the number one use of the Internet, and this percentage is rising bigger every day (Qualman). As a consequence, people are becoming more reliant on social media, which has a led to a number of advantageous as well as unfavorable effects. The world is more connected today than it has ever been in the past, and this is all because of growth in technology. What has yet to be determined though
After a length amount of time of talking, people decided to meet. There have been so many horror stories about this. For example, [1] In January of 1998, a man meet a woman over the Internet called L. He thought he was in “true love”, because of all the time they spent chatting and talking over the telephone. He also thought he could trust her...
The writer started the article by showing her own opinion clearly about the long distance relationships through the dating websites “I have doubts about a long-distance relationship that started through a dating site. ”[3]. Then she started to give an example of a relationship via the Internet.... ... middle of paper ... ...
As the technology of cellphones advances, the easier it becomes to communicate and maintain relationships globally, however, these ubiquitous devices lead to the possibility of diminishing close family relationships. In this essay I will explain that the way cellphones have impacted family relationships is, in fact, a genuine controversy. First, I will explain the overall debated situation, then I will express how valuing either technology, tradition, or communication all lead to different, mutually exclusive views on the influence of cellphones in family relationships.
Social media is used by many people, young and old around the world as a way to communicate. Our lives have become so busy that it is difficult to maintain family and social relationships. “They use social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. On these sites users create profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research and share thoughts, photos, music, links and more” (Social Networking). With the use of social media you can be friends with all sorts of people without actually seeing or knowing them. “In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families” (Cosmato).