Love in the times of instant messaging

Love in the times
of instant messaging
I'm pretty sure that every person reading this article,
or for that matter even those
who are not, own a cell phone

And if they are in a relationship, or once were,
or are looking for one, they must have more than
often depended on this little
device to reach out to their partner.

One does not need any survey or study to realize
how important cell phones have become in our lives today.
It has grown beyond a simple tool to stay in touch
and has often been the comforter, communicator, friend,
c onfidant, and much more.
No one would have ever imagined the degree to which
the cell phone's status has risen in our lives
– from friendly chats to taking significant decisions, it does it all .

Cell phones have become so common that it is no
longer unusual to see students talking and
texting their friends even during lecture sessions.
While parents may have introduced their kids to
cell phones thinking it would help keep a tab on them,
but for children it's like being given a new lease of life.
The phone has especially come as a boon for those kids
who are awakening to new-found feelings of love
and find this tool an easy means to explore those feelings ! Thus, as with various other facets of our lives,
cell phones also have a huge role to play in
our personal relationships.
Distance has lost its meaning thanks to the
cell phone which allows us to connect
to our partner almost instantly . Ironically, if the result of a new workshop is to be believed,
cell phones can actually prove to be a big
hurdle in our love lives.

In book
'How to Play Hard to Get:
How to Catch and Keep
Mr Right, Not Mr Right Now'
relationships say that women who want to attract and keep
a man's attention should go for the old-fashioned style
of playing hard to get and write love letters,
for sms love messages can actually
sabotage their prospects of finding love.

They point out that when a woman
sends a sms to her boyfriend or a potential boyfriend,
she frets terribly till she hears from him.
The more time the man takes to
respond to her message or call,
the worse her imagination gets.
She starts assuming that he is having an
affair or probably isn't too impressed
by her and is therefore avoiding her. Of course, writing a love letter in blood
may be charming in its own way,
but how much blood does one
waste if one wants to communicate as frequently
as possible.
In this instant sms era,
where you can text your loved one at the
drop of a hat, patience is no longer a practiced virtue. Psychologist, points out,
"It is thanks to technology that nowadays
even when partners are travelling
they can be in constant touch with each other,
thereby reducing the missing factor !"

Me too hasn't stopped me from owning two cell phones .
specially bought a Reliance cell
phone to talk exclusively to my girlfriend.
spend around six to seven hours daily chatting
on the phone and these conversations are sometimes
carried late into the night.
I prefers calls to texting,
so whenever she feels the need to talk to her partner,
she gives me a missed call and i calls back –
a new trend in cell phone etiquettes based on the old idea
of the gentleman picking the tab.
"But if he is in a meeting or when we are in a situation
when we can't talk we usually sms,"

While we does not feel that we've become
too dependent on cell phones to sustain relationships,
she does agree that it has helped in improving
the emotional bonds between the partners.
"In the pre-cell phone era also people
used to enjoy good relationships.
So it would be wrong to say we are more
dependent on cell phones to make our relationship work.
But yes, it has increased the bonding and the two people
become emotionally attached in a shorter period
as they are able to communicate and share more frequently.
When either partner gets angry it is easier to make
up as we can immediately talk over the
phone and sought it out,"

Young or old,
cell phones have helped
couples explore their relationship and
understand each other better.
"Thanks to the cell phone,
The cell phone also continues to play an important
role in the lives of married couples.
With little time to spend with each other during the week,
they make up for it by talking on
the phone and texting each other. In fact, the cell phone is not restricted to helping
couples keep in touch and keeping
the fire of marriage alive.
Mobile dating is also on the rise.
It works on the same principal as the
traditional marriage broker.
Once an individual registers with a mobile dating
service provider, his or her profile is matched with
a similar one of the opposite sex and the couple
can interact and meet up if they desire. As the latest cell phones come
with the latest mobile technology such as cameras,
broadband wireless connections and MMS,
sending and receiving pictures
or text to prospective partners
has become commonplace.
This allows the couple to decide
whether they want to take things
forward and also saves the
embarrassment of meeting and
realizing that the person is not
your dream girl or man!