Sunday, May 25, 2008

Long(-ing)-Distance

I am so exhausted right now. After deciding on a date and time for our first official video chat, I patiently waited until 6:30a (California time-zone) and 9:30p (West Australia time-zone) to chat with The Boyfriend (or should I write 'The Fiancé'? Doesn't that sound a bit pretentious? Sidenote: What is it about that word that makes a person sound like they're bragging? See?
That's why I'm trying not to say it that often).

After the hour of configuration (the frustrating time spent trying to connect our computers to each other's web cam and hold a conversation without the software shutting down on us), we finally had a real conversation that felt like he wasn't thousands of miles away. We talked for about three hours last night/ this morning.

Later I realised that all of this technology, this new media, has been created to preserve the long-distance relationship. Think about it, international text messaging, video and audio online chat software, even the simple things like email and personal websites such as this one all benefit the long-distance relationship (which could use all the help it can get). This made me really thankful for the digital world.

This also got me wondering about relationships that are completely Internet-based. Is it really possible to have a successful digital relationship without ever having met in person? One of our friends met a really nice girl from Japan via video chat. The dated digitally for a while and then it just fell apart, I can't remember why. Do we really have to connect physically to have a meaningful and loving relationship? Or is it possible to have a real connection, digitally?

3 comments:

queenlivia said...

Well... My experience says that it can be really difficult to have a digital relationship. I tried to keep a relationship with a guy I only spent a night with (actually it happened twice) and it didn't work. You know about the first story, but the second one went the same way. We just drifted because we couldn't share our lives through chat etc...

Muze said...

wow you don't know how close this hit to home. lol.

i'll just be short and sweet and say yes, you can have a real connection.

but to sustain a relationship for an extended amount of time is not happening.

click here said...

Nice post. Love it.