Technology & Love

Love has most certainly has been in the air or should I say on Twitter, which feeds nearly 95 million tweets a day, if the recent flirtatious tweets between Australian Cricket star Shane Warne and UK model/actress Elizabeth Hurley are anything to go by...who also announced the end of their respective relationships on-line. It all got me thinking about the role technology plays in love...especially long distance relationships.

First, let's just explore the dynamics of Twitter in the Hurley and Warne affair who also used it to give their fans a news flash about their romantic status; Hurley and Warne exchanged teasing tweets that could be read by everyone and this kind of online flirting is risk-taking that can be almost as seductive as the relationship itself. Judi James, a social behaviour expert compares the shared jokes and secretive codes to passing notes in school, where it does not really matter what is said because it is the act that bonds them together and says, "People's behaviour can have the opposite effect to their goal - it's like office romances, people say their partners must never know, but then they leave huge clues like e-mails everyone can access. It's almost like sticking a banner on the wall. A psychologist would say subliminally they wanted to be found out. Tweeting can vary from just being a natural way of communicating news, to the ultimate public display of affection."

So, this is what got me thinking...do we owe our thanks to technology that distance is no longer a barrier to good communications as now constant communication is the key to a successful relationship, including long distance relationships? We could say that thanks to the technology and the Internet keeping a long distance relationship is easier these days than before. Entering into love has also been made more possible for people because of technology and the digital age...if we think of on-line dating sites.

To understand how the Internet has helped long distance relationships, we need to recognise how things have changed...previously people only had the postal service to use for their communications and it could have taken up to months on end for communications to be exchanged. Today it moves at a much faster rate and technology has given people choices of how they communicate. Technology has given relationships wonderful real time possibilities from a speedy e-mail that can hold attachments, images, videos to instant messaging, which is like talking to each other in real time to text messages all to communicate. Broadband even makes it possible to stream video, so you can see each other through webcam while chatting. Technology has opened up the experience of communications, where it has become emotional and about being in touch. I leave you with this wonderful piece of mobile technology video link below that will help all long distance couples everywhere, and to all of you in love...Merry Christmas!

YouTube-TedxBerlin 11/15/10-Fabian Hemmert-How can we make mobile communication more emotional

Photo Credit: stevoarnold