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"Smitten Kittens, just how much do our relationships depend on texting? We&amp;amp;#8217;ll text to late a date know we&amp;amp;#8217;re running late or perhaps we sext with a long-distance lover. But has this form of technology taken away some of the romance? I recently finished the most fascinating (and frightening) novel called Feed. It&amp;amp;#8217;s YA speculative fiction that looks at the ways technology makes our lives easier but can also pervade things like face-to-face communication. The characters in the novel have &amp;amp;#8220;feeds&amp;amp;#8221; implanted into their brains that allow them to, among other things, &amp;amp;#8220;chat&amp;amp;#8221; with their friends. It&amp;amp;#8217;s like IM but in your brain and you can chat with anytime and anywhere. Often, the characters in the novel will chat with friends instead of actually speaking out loud to them. Or, they&amp;amp;#8217;ll browse their feeds (go online to shop, look up new music, plan trips, etc) instead of paying attention to the people they&amp;amp;#8217;re hanging with. The book, written by M.T. Anderson, came out in 2004 and while that was eons ago in terms of technology, I can&amp;amp;#8217;t help but be slightly creeped out by how spot-on the author&amp;amp;#8217;s imagined future turned out to be. For the past few days, whenever I&amp;amp;#8217;ve spotted two people together who are both focused on their phones, and not each other, I get goosebumps. Chris is not amused when I tug on his sleeve and say, &amp;amp;#8220;It&amp;amp;#8217;s just like in Feed!&amp;amp;#8221; And, I&amp;amp;#8217;m beginning to sense a backlash against texting technology. It&amp;amp;#8217;s a convenient, quick way to get an innocuous message across, but more and more it&amp;amp;#8217;s becoming an avenue to convey really important communication. Here on Smitten, some readers have even been dumped via text! Earlier today, Thought Catalog featured a essay called &amp;amp;#8220;Stop Texting Me And Get In My Bed!&amp;amp;#8221; The author wails against the technologies (texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc) that keep people connected; she argues that these actually don&amp;amp;#8217;t provide intimacy, rather the opposite. By texting, we convey information to someone else but because it&amp;amp;#8217;s communication exchanged on a device devoid of emotion or tone, it&amp;amp;#8217;s not nearly as effective or as personal as a conversation had in person. And I&amp;amp;#8217;ve got to agree. I mean, sarcasm doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t play as well via MMS as it does in person, right? On the other hand, does reading &amp;amp;#8220;I love you,&amp;amp;#8221; or getting asked out by your crush by text give you the same amount of butterflies as hearing those words tumble from another&amp;amp;#8217;s mouth? Texting definitely has its place but when it comes to texting and romance, are you over it? What are your thoughts on texting and dating? Should some things be reserved for face-to-face conversation? Have you ever dated someone obsessed with texting? Was it annoying? Or did those habits rub off on you? For more on the dating game: * 5 Dating DOs I Wish I&amp;#x27;d Learned Before I&amp;#x27;d Left for College! * Where Are You, Single Men of NYC? I&amp;amp;#8217;m Hot. * The Millionaire Matchmaker: Would You Date a Man Who Wanted Only a Housewife? More Ways to Get Glamour: Chat with celebs, VIP fashion stars, beauty pros and more on our Facebook page! Visit Facebook.com/glamour for this month&amp;amp;#8217;s schedule NEW! Now You Can Read Glamour on Flipboard! Visit ShopGlamour.com for cute stuff starting at just $10! Download Glamour Magazine for your iPad--print subscribers, it&amp;amp;#8217;s now part of your subscription plan! Enter the latest Glamour sweepstakes! Follow us on Twitter. Photo: Stockbyte"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/sex-love-life/blogs/smitten/2011/08/dating-and-texting-lets-rant-s>