Text me. *wink face*

This world has become virtually virtual (weird.). Everything from our driving directions to dinner plans is on our smart-phones. 


Ever lose/forget your phone somewhere? You realize it's missing when you show up at your local bar with your friends and all of a sudden "WHOOPS! I FORGOT TO CHECK IN!" You reach into your pocket so you can power up Foursquare and your greeted by your wallet... no.... keys.... no......... crumpled dollar bill.....NO.....okay now your freaking out!!!! 


In those 3 seconds you were kickin' it old school. Like remember day planners? Or when you had to memorize your friend's house telephone number? Or when you couldn't reach your friend on that house phone, so you'd simply try again later?  Now we shoot to Facebook, Social Media, and (creepily enough) Foursquare to see where everyone is out at all hours of the day. We cannot become disconnected. It's not a bad thing, I guess. But simplicity is swimming away from us.

***

Dating has also become a past time (no, not E-Harmony folks). What happened to the simplicity of answering an un-screened telephone call, texting when you want to (not when your friends say it's appropriate) or restraining yourself from stalking the person on Facebook before accepting a dinner invitation?


In an article, "Mobile phones in romantic relationships and the dialectic of autonomy versus connection" (Duran, R.L., Kelly, L. & Rotaru, T., 2011) they discuss assumptive rules about mobile phone usage in intimate relationships. I have had so many friends receive a text from a significant other, but refuse to text back right away in the worry that they appear "too eager", "creepy", "too excited". Some of the surveyed questions included things like:

• "We expect each other to respond to a text or a voicemail message within the hour"
• "After a certain time of night it's not okay to call or text each other"
• "We are expected to call or text message each other when we change locations"

These questions seem a little outrageous. But the first questions mentioned above is what drove me to conduct this survey again for my Communication Research Methods class at the College of Charleston . "Within the hour..." I have a few friends who get nervous when it's 5 minutes after the original sent message.

I was out the other evening with close friend when a boy of her interest called her on her smartphone. Instead of picking up the call, she switched the ringer off. I questioned her action and she said "Oh I'll just text him later." 


In the study mentioned above that partners receive over 6 messages a day from their significant other, while less than 2.5 phone calls. Instead of having a conversation with one another we are relying on plastic and emoticons to conceal messages.

I'm hypothesizing that there is a correlation between modern communication skills in intimate relationships and the success of those relationships.  Are we more comfortable sending CMC (Computer Mediated Communication) messages to our intimate partners?


Stay tuned .... I hope to figure it out!