Relationships in the Digital World

What happens when relationships cross the threshold into the digital world? There’s only one answer to that question for me and that is, I believe digital relationships are incredibly complex and truly do connect us. Often we hear of this theme that technology can connect us to the digital world while simultaneously disconnecting us from the analog world like a mindless zombie. I have no doubts that in some cases that’s true and that technology can have a propensity to be very distracting, however, technology is a tool and when utilized correctly it can not only connect you to relationships in the digital world but also ones in the analog world while fostering complex relationships and carrying complex conversations miles away.

Furthermore, my greatest example of how technology can be pertinent to complex relationships is via my friendship with someone I met online. We met nearly eight years ago in a video game called “Rust” and to this day we are still best friends. We have never met, and yet we have an incredibly complex friendship. Alongside talking every day we’ve spent many thousands of hours playing video games and just “hanging out” even though we live over a thousand miles apart. I would raise the point that we are even closer than any of my “real” friends because I seldom communicate with friends I knew from high school before moving to Omaha and seemingly the same phenomena happened when I moved from middle school to high school, yet not a day has gone by in about five or six consecutive years where I haven’t had an extensive and complex conversation with my friend. Those five or six years span the same time I went from middle school to high school and high school to college and while all the friends I knew in person seemingly disappeared my relationship with my friend remained a constant.

Nevertheless, it’s well known that a large sum of online communication is done non-verbally through the means of texts, emails, and other mediums. While many rightly make the case that we lose out on emotion and the important ques of body language, my counter to that is that non-verbal communication encourages one to get a deeper understanding of those they find themselves having recurring conversations with, so they can interpret the emotion behind the messages they’re sending. Just like how body language gives ques if you get to know someone online well enough they too give subconscious ques through the way they text that can be interpreted if you know them well enough. The ques are so apparent that even computer algorithms can detect them.

Ultimately, technology can be damning for many relationships, but if you use it as the tool it is, you can not only bolster existing relationships but also create new lasting ones. Therefore, technology’s inherent ability to connect us doesn’t have to simultaneously disconnect us from the analog, it’s all about one’s use of it. Finally, if you do rely on technology for many conversations, or you feel disconnected by technology, take the initiative to learn the ques of those close to you and it will truly improve your digital relationships.