In any relationship, whether that of friends, spouses, siblings, coworkers, business partners, etc, communication is key.

In order for anything to be successful, good communication is necessary. In our day and age, there are many different ways in which people can communicate. With the advent of high tech electronics, communication is often transferred via email, text, phone call, or some other messaging system.

Person-to-person communication is no longer necessary, and the former mode of communication via letter is seen as old fashioned. Is this new era of technological communication an asset, or is it causing more problems?

Technology and the world’s capability of instant communication can indeed be a great blessing. Almost immediately hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people can be praying for a person in need of spiritual intervention.

Family members spread far across the continent or the world can easily keep in contact. However, it can cause many problems. Oftentimes people “say” things they wouldn’t say to someone in person, things that can easily be misconstrued, things that can easily harm a person emotionally or in other ways.

Scroll the comments section on blog posts, news sites, and YouTube videos, and you will most likely find derogatory, mean, and hurtful comments. Communicating through a screen and not in person has caused people to lose their filter. A lack of verbal, one-on-one communication has also caused a decrease in the ability for people to converse intelligently and respectfully.

Don’t get me wrong, technological communication is very useful and helpful in many respects. But it can also be very harmful.

In this article, I would like to focus on the communication in friendships. This is coming from a girl who loves to talk forever on the phone, loves good, long one-on-one talks with my best friends, and loves writing and receiving letters.

All of these forms of communication give me so much joy, and I’d prefer them to a text or message on social media any day. If you’re thinking I’m a little old fashioned or don’t fit into the category of today’s teenagers, don’t worry, I’ve heard it all before, and I’d agree with you.

I might be swimming against the tide, but it’s been well worth it for me.

Texting with a purpose

Texting is an easy and quick way to relay information. But it should not be used as the sole source of communication in any relationship.

Who we are on social media or in writing is often not who we really are in person. When we text, tweet, or email someone we can carefully choose our words to make ourselves sound good. We can easily create for ourselves a different world.

It’s one thing to know a person on paper, and to actually know them in person.

When texting someone, don’t text them for the sake of texting them, such as just saying “Hey”, or “What’s up?” If the person means enough to you to continue a friendship, take the time to see them in person, set up a phone or Skype date, or even write them a letter.

Oftentimes the things you want to say can’t be said in a text, or are oftentimes misconstrued by the person you are texting. To avoid any confusion, it’s simpler to wait to talk to the person either over the phone or in person.

I’ll definitely converse with my close friends over text, but we know that if there’s something important we want to discuss or share, we’ll wait to talk in person or on the phone.

In general for friendships, I’d encourage avoiding texting a person of the opposite sex. Once again, to relay quick information it may be necessary, but I would not encourage it to carry on a friendship.

Texting can easily create an emotional attachment to a person, and pretty soon you are very attached to this person you know only through text. In addition, things can be said that are later regretted.

It is especially important in friendships with someone of the opposite sex to set clear boundaries when it comes to communication so that no lines are crossed.

Now, I’m not saying you can only write letters or call a person to communicate with them. But, I caution you against overuse of the sphere of social media.

In truth, so much of our time is wasted on meaningless, idle communication. My challenge for you is to communicate with a purpose and with intention.

Agree, disagree, agree to disagree? Please comment below and let me know what you think!