Texting and Romantic Relationships

1479 Words3 Pages

Times have changed. Things are done differently these days, including in romantic relationships. Instead of getting a love letter, boyfriends or girlfriends get love texts. Texting can be beneficial for making small plans, but it tends to decrease the intimacy for the couple. It can create issues that may or may not be resolved, but would have been less likely to be created had it not been for texting. Texting can lead to silly misunderstandings, make the partners feel like they always need to be in contact with each other, create a tendency to resolve problems and express feelings without being face-to-face, and make them wonder if they really have their partner’s attention or not. These frequent misunderstandings are quite common with texting. You never really know if your boyfriend or girlfriend was sarcastic, angry, serious, happy, joking, and so on. Without the facial expressions and tone of voice, you cannot know. For example, I was texting my boyfriend and asked him an innocent question. He responded quite angrily. I was completely caught off guard and very confused. I did not know why he was so angry. I retaliated with anger because it seemed like he was being rude and offensive for no reason at all. We eventually resolved that what he thought I was being rude and sarcastic about, I really was not. This easy question was drug out into a long angry conversation simply because there was a misunderstanding. If Jacob, my boyfriend, had been with me, or maybe even just on the phone or on a video call, such as Skype, FaceTime, or Oovoo, he would have noticed my tone of voice was completely casual, and the likeliness of a misunderstanding would have been less and a huge commotion probably would not have been made either. However... ... middle of paper ... ...n several negative ways. This is why I believe that most conversation should be done face-to-face. It prevents silly fights, and allows the relationship to grow more than a relationship that is all texting. Continual contact through texting is okay if it works for both partners, but emotional conversations, complex problems, and other serious intimate conversations should always be done in person. Face-to-face intimacy is completely different than through texting. First of all, you actually know that you have their undivided attention. Plus, you can say whatever you want when you’re texting. It actually takes guts and courage to say it to their face, and doing so increases the intimacy tremendously. This intimacy is very important. Without it, the romantic relationship is just another relationship or friendship. The intimacy is what makes it a romantic relationship.

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