While technology, social media and cell phones are typically seen as hindering real-life interaction, many students are faced with having to utilize these tools to keep their love lives.
“Due to social media and cell phones, it has made it very easy to keep in constant contact and made it easier to have a long-distance relationship,” Ferris physical therapy sophomore Hannah Marcotte said.
She admits that she was wary about having a long-distance relationship at first but is happy with how it’s working out. Marcotte and her boyfriend, Johnnie, met at their summer job last year and imme- diately bonded over their shared love of tennis. They have been together for eight months.
As Marcotte’s long-distance relationship grew, she and her boyfriend went from simply talking on the phone to FaceTiming—always making time for one another.
“Every night we FaceTime for at least an hour. It’s a good way to connect face-to-face,” Marcotte said.
While some couples use technology to keep in touch with their partners, others have found their cell phones to be a way to meet new people.
“Technology helped us meet. We were in the same class but he started messaging me on Facebook and that helped bring us together,” Ferris elementary education freshman Melanie Jarrell said.
Jarrell and her boyfriend, Jonathan, have been together for a year and a half. She goes home two to three times a month to see him.
“We text and video chat almost every day. It’s important to have a good balance between how much we talk though and giving each other some space,” Jarrell said.
Though technology can be key when it comes to communication, it does have drawbacks when it’s the only way to communicate.
“There can be miscommunications over text or things can be misread, like she may think I am mad when I am not, or vice versa,” Ferris criminal justice freshman Jaedyn Childs said.
Because of the possibility of a miscommunication and possible fights, Childs strongly dislikes texting or Snapchatting her girlfriend of two years. She would prefer just talking on the phone when they are not together.
“We have a rule of no phones while hanging out, watching movies or when we’re out doing something special,” Childs said.
While technology is a tool that helps keep these college couples together, they also realize the importance of getting their faces away from screens when their partner’s faces are the more important thing to be viewing.
Date ideas in big rapids with no cellphones
- A movie date at the AMC movie theatre
- A walk in Hemlock Park
- Study date at FLITE
- Go tubing down the muskegon river
- Go to the big rapids roller rink