Relationship Status: In A Textlationship

That's what they're calling it -- 'textlationships".  Translation?  Relationships via text message.  And we all have them.  And not just romantic ones; we have the strictly friendly ones as well. 

Coop and I have spoken about the lack of human interaction in today's society, and this is just another bit of evidence to support that.

I am a texting whore.  And when I say "text", I mean all forms of conversing with another individual via my mobile device -- text messaging, instant messaging and the new "kik" messaging (similar to BBM, but it works across all wireless platforms simultaneously).

Always on vibrate, my phone rarely leaves my arm's length.  I can't miss that important text from you-know-who.  And I can't miss that important "kik" from Coop about our next blog post! 

But are these types of relationships healthy?  Are they even real?

Well, they're real in the sense that they do exist and we are communicating with others, although I'm not sure how healthy they are for us.  If you already know the person pre-texting era, it's not so imperative.  However, this type of communication can be both beneficial and harmful when meeting and interacting with new people. 

You can get learn a lot about a person through a text conversation, both good and bad.  For example, some people have this unprecedented sense of confidence behind the 4.3 inch touch screen of their smart phone.  They say things they normally would not have the courage to say to someone's face.  Whether it be a naughty, flirtacious comment or a mean and sarcastic one, they become someone they might not be if not for the security blanket of the text message. 

During a "textlationship" you are basically writing your own little screenplay between yourself and the other person.  You have time to sit and think before responding and can stear an entire scenario exactly the way you want it to go.  So not only can getting to know someone this way be extremely misleading, but it can be very disappointing as well.  You sort of create an image of someone in your mind based on your interaction with them over text.  But exactly how close to reality is that image?  You can't read their body language or look into their eyes to see how sincere they are.

So if the person ends up being fake, is so too the relationship?

No wonder it's so hard to date these days!