Many factors can put a strain on relationships, but one that can have a particular impact is being separated by distance. There could be any number of reasons why you and your partner are having to endure the strains of a long-distance romance. Perhaps one of you has been called away for family reasons or is working in a different location for a while. You might have met someone when you were holidaying abroad, and your emotional connection has been strong enough for you to want to keep in touch.

The rise in Internet dating

One leisure pursuit growing in popularity is online dating. Because so many sites attract users from all over the world, singles can just as easily find themselves falling for like-minded individuals from foreign countries as their immediate neighborhood.

People choose this activity for many reasons. They might feel shy or awkward in social situations and be more comfortable chatting in the online environment. They could use dating sites to fight loneliness. (Here, you can find a new relationship and overcome any distance). Many factors make online platforms ideal for long-distance relationships.

Be flexible for new life’s rules

In 2020, there are so many new elements affecting how relationships are instigated, and how they evolve. Those days when singles would spend their weekends hanging around busy bars or soulless nightclubs seem a distant memory. Nowadays people are drawn to dating sites because they are prioritizing convenience and variety.

Instead of visiting the same social locations, week in, week out, being surrounded by a limited pool of prospective partners, now they can sign up to a matching resource and gain instant access to a treasure trove of talent. This diversity can be incredibly exciting, and more and more singles are being drawn to interacting with people from far-flung locations. It could be the case they are keen to pick up a new language – what better way to do so than exchanging regular messages and flirting with someone who speaks this as their mother tongue?

You might be considering a weekend break or a foreign holiday? Rather than plowing through guidebooks, you could strike up a rapport with a local single via the dating site you’re both members of, then plan to meet up. You would have your own tour guide.

Dating sites are all about flexibility. As you check out the profile details uploaded by other site members, you can pay attention to where they call home, making it easy to synchronize your travel requirements.

You can be yourself online

It can sometimes be difficult to overcome a language barrier when you’re getting acquainted with someone from a different cultural background. When doing so online, you can spend more time exchanging details. You can also gain instant access to software like Google translate that will assist your dialogue. Cultures across the planet have unique ways of looking at things, and you can do some research into local customs or sayings before engaging, ensuring there’s less chance of the sort of misunderstandings that can be common during face-to-face encounters.

Advances in communication technology

Many long-distance relationships have floundered because other distractions got in the way. This is why the parties should take their communications more seriously when they are separated. Instead of casually agreeing to touch base at some point, it would be better to timetable those instances when they will be making that phone call. When anything arises that will derail this, plenty of warning is required so that this important arrangement can be re-scheduled. This might means considering variations in time zones.

One evolution in technology that has had an especially beneficial impact on long-distance relationships is video chatting. Software like Skype and Zoom means that you can not only hear your partner during your conversations, you can watch them reacting to what you are saying. This makes it easier to recognize speech inflections that determine what is being said jokingly or sarcastically (inferences that aren’t always detectable in text messages).

This form of contact can be taken to different extremes – consider how some dating sites are using video messaging so that consenting couples can enjoy explicit interaction via their respective webcams.

Which ‘traditional’ methods are still valid?

You can use digital communication – emails, texts, phone calls, social media messaging – to make instant contact. But the subtleties of human communication can sometimes be lost in translation. People tend to use a lot of shorthand when chatting via a web browser or using a mobile device, including inserting emojis to convey emotions. However, none of these virtual options will ever substitute the intensity of feelings that can be conjured with a romantic letter. Everyone has heard of love letters – does a love email or love text have the same ring? Of course not.