Technology's Toll on Relationships

In this day and age, even small children are armed with mobile phones and iPod touches. Technology is a double edged sword in the sense that it makes maintaining existing relationships virtually effortless, while also making sparking new relationships twice as difficult and removing the sense of personal connection from all relationships. Next time you're on the subway or the bus, look around you. People aren't talking to each other, they're either texting, playing a game, reading an e-book, or listening to music. They're limiting their networks with the very tools they intend to use to expand their networks. Psychology Today says that, "we find ourselves subtly substituting electronic relationships for physical ones or mistaking our electronic relationships for physical ones." Meanwhile, technology intensifies existing, and even, blossoming relationships.

For prospective lovers, the pressure is on. It used to be ok to wait a few days before making further contact, but now, if you aren't facebook friends in the next 24 hours after the first date, one or both parties already starts suspecting something is off. The same goes for text messaging, this also opens up a whole new can of worms in terms of a new relationship. This of course referrs to analyzing who is going to text who first, wondering who else they are texting and so on. Technology opens up many new obsticals for prospective lovers to overcome.

Even in platonic relationships, we no longer have any excuse to go missing in action. Our friends, family, and significant others always have some means of contacting us, which can just be tiring. While mobile devices can sometimes hinder relationship growth or spur unhealthy relationship development, technology isn't all bad. For example, online dating sites enable users to find partners based on their personalities, their wants, and their needs. It has transformed the dating game and made it much easier for people of all walks of life to get together and enjoy healthy relationships. Linked in allows professionals to share themselves with one another, and to keep an active business network going. Facebook and Twitter are also great social devices when they aren't all encompassing. Technology is a wonderful tool so long as we remember to keep our real, physical, offline lives alive and thriving.