Photo by Avi Richards on Unsplash
How many people have formed romantic relationships online?  A survey by the ad and marketing agency Euro RSCG Worldwide found that more than one-third of Americans believe it’s possible to have a romantic online connection.  Mary Brophy Marcus from the USA Today writes that online romance via Facebook, Twitter, and Craigslist is playing an increasing role in relationships.  In some cases the relationships are fully played out online while others may evolve into real-life connections.  This may be a good screening tool, but can have other pitfalls like discerning the emotionally healthy potential partners from the unhealthy ones.  As our relationships change with technology, it’s important to maintain face-time.  We can learn a great deal about a person without meeting them directly, but nothing replaces an in-person connection.  Unfortunately, face-to-face interactions are even limited for married couples.  Couples today are often distracted by life and connect through snippets of time.  In fact couples today spend an average of four minutes a day communicating with each other and much of that is about logistics.  My fear is that people will engage in less and less deep, personal, and intimate conversations.  In order to stay connected in a relationship, couples need to be emotionally and physically intimate, with conversation playing a big part in intimacy.  Take the time to sit down with your partner without distractions and have those meaningful conversations.  Connection comes from conversation and conversation leads to intimacy.  So limit your emails and text, talk directly to each other, and value the face-time.