Texting Between Romantic Partners Contributes to Quality of Relationship

Text messaging has quickly become the most popular mode of non-face-to-face communication, especially among teenagers and young adults. Because of the popularity of this mode of communication, it is no wonder that texting now plays a large role in romantic relationships. Now, communication does not stop when couples are not physically together; they have the ability to constantly contact their partner at any time of day. Around 83% of Americans in the US now have a mobile phone, and of those, 73% of them use text messaging. With the speed and ease of sending a text message, phone calls and other forms of communication have been declining in use. Oftentimes, texting is perceived as a less intimate form of communicating than face-to-face communication and talking on the phone, but research shows that texting can cultivate connectedness and closeness within romantic relationships. 

Daily Communication Fosters Increased Connectedness Within Romantic Relationships

Research shows that daily communication between romantic partners creates more intimacy and interdependence, regardless of the content of the conversations. One study finds that more frequent mobile communication is significantly associated with less perceived loneliness. Texting provides reassurance to romantic partners of their connectedness and helps maintain the relationships. In addition, constant interactions among partners help to reduce relationship uncertainty and there is evidence to suggest that exchanges over text are just as successful at doing this as face-to-face interactions are.

Texting also provides an easy way for partners to make plans with each other, check in on each other, as well as stay in constant contact. In a survey conducted at the University of Maryland, 84% of participants say that when they are not physically with their partner, texting is their main mode of communication. When asked how they thought their relationship would change without texting, a majority said it would be worse. Fifty percent of participants say they text their significant other two to three times each day, and 25% say they exchange texts hourly. 

Source: Fiona Caretto

Romantic partners often have a strong desire for constant emotional support and availability, and texting has become the primary resource for this when physical closeness is not available. Texting is also a more private and long-lasting means of technological communication than phone calls, which is why many prefer texting over other ways of communicating.

As With All Methods of Communication, Texting Can Lead to Relationship Distress

While texting may be easier, quicker, and more private than phone calls, text messaging does not improve relationship quality as much as talking on the phone. This is due to phone calls being voice-based and synchronous communication, as well as being able to give more information over the phone than is possible in a single text message.

Knowing one's partner is just a text away can be comforting, but relying too heavily on text messaging to communicate can result in problems. The survey conducted at UMD found that 78% of participants say that texting has caused stress in their relationship at least once. Messages can be misinterpreted over text because tone, facial expressions, and other indicators of meaning are absent over the phone. On the one hand, texting does enable romantic partners to be in constant communication, but one student claims all that messaging detracts from face-to-face interactions.

Texting one's partner too much can lead to over-dependence, which decreases relationship satisfaction. Being able to be in perpetual contact with one's partner is great, but what happens when couples get too used to communication over the phone that face-to-face interactions become more difficult and possibly more awkward? That is what another student claims was a result of constantly texting her partner.



A Pew research study found that 54% of all teens text their friends daily, 33% talk on the phone, and 33% talk face-to-face. As people rely more and more on texting, they decrease their use of communicating via phone calls and in person. This has been found to lead to dissatisfaction with the relationship. Communicating solely via technology reduces feelings of closeness, connectedness, and love, and increases misunderstanding and miscommunication. Texting alone does not decrease quality of the relationship, but when it is the overall most used mode of communication, that is when the relationship begins to worsen.

Outcomes Depend on The Reason For Texting

Mixed results are expected, as each individual uses texting for different reasons. In the survey conducted at UMD, the most common reason for someone texting their partner was to make plans, with one third of participants selecting this reason. The next most common reason was to stay in constant contact, with 27% of participants choosing this. Utilizing text messaging simply to make plans does not really improve, besides making coordinating their schedule easier, nor deteriorate the quality of the relationship. A majority of participants (88%) of the survey conducted at UMD say texting makes them closer with their partner.

Source: Fiona Caretto

Those who are texting just to stay in constant contact will receive the most negative outcomes. One study found that constant texting can lead to "hyper-coordination," which is the "experience of enhanced, anxiety-provoking relational dependence and engagement through the use of mobile technologies." The expectation of people for their partners to always be instantly reachable through text message can lead to partners feeling pressure and suffocated by their partners.

As the frequency of texting between partners increases, so does their reliance on text messages to be a relationship maintenance tool. This leads to negative outcomes when problems occurring in the relationship cannot be solved over text. A student at UMD claims that texting does not have a strong impact on her relationship because of the quantity of texts her and her partner send per day.



Relationship partners should be careful when texting each other. Too much dependence on text messaging to communicate can result in stress, over-dependence, and eventually relationship dissatisfaction. Moderated texting can foster intimacy and make a couple feel closer to each other, but it should not be the only source of contact. Face-to-face contact is most important, because there is less miscommunication when talking to someone in person. As technology continues to advance, non-face-to-face communication will increase in popularity and relationships will exist as much virtual as in person. Romantic partners need to be wary to the effects of text messaging on relationships.

U.S. Government Blockage of Publications Needs to be Limited

Response to question 1 on page 340

• The US government infringes on people's First Amendment right to free speech when it blocks the publication of material.
• With increase in social media and information via Internet, the government is beginning to seek greater control of what is distributed.
• If the published material provides a great threat to national security, the government should do thorough investigation to see if blockage is truly necessary.

In the past decade, more and more people are arguing that the government is placing too many restrictions on what one can and cannot post. With the rise of the internet and other forms of mass communication, the amount of information being transmitted has increased exponentially. There have been many cases where the government has asked internet companies to remove information it has posted, as well as governments outside the US controlling what their citizens post on social media. This has fueled a controversial debate on the government's power to exercise prior restraint, as well as block publication or broadcast of material it feels might hurt security interests. Excessive use of prior restraint is against an individual's right to free speech.

The Government Controlling Speech Leads to Unnecessary Censorship 

It is each citizens right to free speech as stated in the First Amendment. While it is very important that this law be upheld, there should be a few exceptions such as prohibiting publication of child pornography. Many argue that publications of hate speech should be restricted, such as Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses," which some claimed is full of anti-Muslim sentiments. But in an interview with PBS, Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union argues that, "when the government gets to decide which speech is permissible, its exercise of that authority is almost always driven by political considerations, not principled decisions." If the government was given more control over what information the public was allowed to see, they would abuse that power and restrict anything they did not want to be released, without a legitimate reason. An article on CNN.com, states that in the last half of 2011, the US government asked Google to remove 6,192 pieces of content from its search results, blog posts, or online videos, which was a 718% increase compared with what the government asked Google to remove in the first half of 2011. In an incident cited in the same report, the US government asked Google to remove a blog that "allegedly defamed a law enforcement official in a personal capacity." Google did not oblige. Incidents such as these provide evidence for the government's increasing attempt to control the flow of information via Internet. Individuals are allowed to speak their mind and any restriction of that is against the law.

Do National Security Interests Overrule an Individual's Right to Privacy?

By now, everyone is aware of the case of Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency subcontractor leaked top secret information regarding NSA surveillance activities in 2013. Many regard him as a traitor, but Snowden upholds his belief that what he did was justified in the fact that the NSA was spying on American citizens via phone calls and internet and he believed that was wrong and disturbing. He claimed, "I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building." The government should not have invaded citizen's privacy in the first place. Snowden was using their own tactics on themselves. The government should be conducted in an open and honest manor, not abusing the trust of its citizens when trying to gain access to information. 

Postings on social media should especially not be moderated. Social media is a way for people to access and spread information in an open forum. Opinions are allowed to be said, information is allowed to be given out. The government has no business controlling this. Also, social media is a worldwide venue. Every country has different laws governing what can and cannot be said online. No country has the right to impose its laws on someone outside their country even if they are posting information or opinions about their country. In China, for example, Google is forced to remove results of anything the government dislikes. Restrictions such as these can not be used in the United States because it would clearly disregard the right to free speech.

Overall, an individual's right to free speech overrules even national security interests. Without the right to post, distribute, or broadcast what one wants to be seen, the government ends up having total control over the population and this is not what democracy is about. Prior restraint should be used in rare cases, where the government is sure the information pending publication is going to cause extremely terrible effects. Simply defacing one's government is not a reason to block the publication.

Texting Hurts and Helps Relationships Depending on How it's Used

Research shows texting can be beneficial as well as harmful to relationships, the difference is in who is doing the texting, when, and in what situation the texting is occurring. These three photos are from articles on texting and relationships. Out of the three, the most explanatory is the data chart. The picture to the left is solely descriptive. It shows a man and woman at a dining table, looking at their phones, seemingly uninterested in each other. While it can be assumed they are a couple, there is no proof of that. We don't know what the situation is. It does however do a good job of communicating through their facial expressions. It is clear they are distracted and bored. The other photo is also descriptive in that it shows a man and woman laying close together holding their phones.
Again, it can be implied that they are a couple because of how close they are, but we do not know what is occurring. The man is looking at his phone and looks bored while the woman is looking away from her phone and looks happy. We do not know what is causing them to feel this way. The data chart however is explanatory because it is easy to read and figure out. It is clear that the independent variables are young adults researching perspective love interested on social networking sites to get more information about someone they were interested in dating, to ask someone out on a date, and to follow or friend someone because a friend suggested they might like to date them. We know the age group of those taking part in the data collection and we know the dependent variable is how many of them do those activities online. It doesn't show how this social network communication affects relationships, only that it does. This is not an extremely explanatory photo, but it is more explanatory than the others. It could be improved by further research about whether or not contacting a potential love interest via the internet worked out for them or not.

About Me

 Hi, my name is Fiona and I'm a freshman psychology major. I like to Irish dance and play soccer and I'm looking forward to this class!