Long-Distance Relationship : An Inseparable Bond

A long-distance relationship is an intimate connection between two people who live far apart in terms of distance. Partnerships in long-distance relationships are hampered by geographical distance and a lack of face-to-face interaction. These relationships are prevalent among college students, accounting for 25 percent to 50 percent of all romantic relationships. Even though a considerable number of long-distance partnerships have been observed among student populations, long-distance relationships remain to be an understudied phenomenon.

Characteristics

In contrast to geographically near relationships, which are defined as partnerships in which the partners can see each other face-to-face almost every day, long-distance relationships are fundamentally different. According to Rohlfing (1995), persons in long-distance relationships have several specific obstacles, including the following:

• Financial obligations to maintain partnerships have increased.
• Maintaining geographically close friendships while in a long-distance love relationship might be difficult for some people.
• When seeing a connection from a distance, it might be challenging to assess its current status.
• Partners have high expectations for the quality of their few face-to-face contacts throughout the partnership.

LDRs with Family and Friends

Long-distance relationships are not always romantic. When people move away from school, their ties with their families and friends become more complex. According to Pew Internet (2004), 79 percent of adult respondents from the United States said they used the Internet to communicate with family and friends regularly. Additionally, according to Pew Internet

(2002), college students will have stronger social links with their peers than their family members due to new technology. As a result, studying e-mail among college students may help researchers better understand how the Internet affects college students emotionally and socially.

Migration has increasingly become a characteristic of modern society due to the significant effect of globalization and the improvement of transportation and communication technology. Consequently, transnational families, in which family members reside in various areas and countries while maintaining a feeling of collective connection across national lines have grown more popular. For example, children may opt to leave home to study abroad; parents may choose to go home in search of better opportunities and wages or siblings may choose to follow different life paths in various parts of the globe.

Girlfriend/Boyfriend Long Distance

The availability of texting and video conferencing seems to have made sustaining a long-distance relationship simpler than ever before. In today’s world, long-distance phone calls are no longer considered a luxury; the days when they had to be rationed are long gone. Long-distance couples no longer have to rely on 3 p.m. mail delivery and wait for news that is at most four days old to hear from one another. Waiting for our family members to check their e-mail when they come home from work is over. Instant messaging keeps us connected to one another even while we’re out shopping, working, playing, watching a movie, and doing various other things together. Everyone who has had a long-distance relationship will tell you that technology cannot substitute for all that occurs in such a relationship.

A significant number of long-distance relationships continue to be emotionally challenging despite the absence of frequent physical closeness. People often believe that long-distance relationships are impossible to maintain. Your family may dissuade you from doing so. Some of your closest friends may advise you not to take it too seriously if you are devastated. Many things are not feasible because of the extra distance – and no one can guarantee that it will be simple. Things might get tricky, and you could feel lonely and depressed. Nonetheless, many of us give them a go.

On the other hand, the added distance makes the most exact things taste even better. A long-distance relationship may make seemingly little things like holding each other’s writing, dining at the same table, feeling each other’s touch, going on walks together, smelling each other’s hair, and other minor pleasures suddenly matter a great deal. Long-distance relationships may be challenging, but they can also be full of unexpected delights.

Military Long Distance

A significant level of stress is experienced by the spouses of military personnel stationed overseas before and during the deployment. While there is more communication in a conventional LDR, the military LDR communication is either unexpected or restricted by military rules or limited in time. Because of the contact limits and the general deployment process, the spouse at home is left feeling lonely and stressed about how to maintain a successful relationship in the future in the military. Other pressures that contribute to the mental state of the military member include the knowledge that they are being sent to a battle zone where their life is in danger and the realization that they will separate them from their family. Throughout the whole deployment process, the spouse will experience various emotional challenges, including anxiety, grief, denial, rage, sadness, and acceptance, to name a few.

Following a review of replies, they discovered that 97 percent of respondents had seen some form of shift in their relationships due to the Long distance-GC (geographically close) transition. When questioned about the possibility of spending more face-to-face time with their children in GC and the delight of spending more time with their children, most responses were favorable. “We finally got to do all the ‘small’ things we’d been longing to do for so long; we get to hug each other, wake up next to one other, dine together, and so on,” says one couple. 

Following the reunion, several people reported feeling a sense of loss of autonomy. For example, many people cherished and yearned for the “independence” and “privacy” that traveling distance provided. In addition, reports of “nagging,” “demanding,” and “expecting too much” came in from several people. Several people have mentioned that their relationship has become more conflicted and “fighting” due to the proximity of their locations.

CONCLUSION

Many people said that they thought their relationship was experiencing more significant conflict, which they described as more frequent and challenging to settle. Several people have remarked that while their relationship is long-distance, they “fight less, and if we fight, things are resolved in a shorter length of time.” For some people, residing in the same place for an extended period exacerbated their sentiments of envy. When they saw their partner’s conduct, several participants indicated they felt more anxious than their partners were either actively cheating on them at the time of the observation or had previously “cheated on them.” The revelation of excellent and negative traits about their spouse during their reunion gave them the impression that their partner had changed somehow while in a long-distance relationship.