Dating - I Like You

Following posts, clicking "like", sharing or tagging videos and photos, changing the relationship status, are a few ways to express how we feel about somebody; but these virtual ways have almost completely replaced verbal contact between ourselves and the beloved ones.

Remember when you used to write a letter on a sheet of paper? Technology has been providing the humanity with tools that make it easier to keep in touch with the entire world, but most importantly, with our significant other. Laptops, tablets, smartphones and other gadgets are the new canvas for love demonstration!

Not so long ago, the debate of technology was beaten by the computer and the e-mail which had already replaced the post office by the time Internet became reachable for everybody. Our parents used to complain when they saw us facing the screen while we did our essays or wrote our every thought seeking to be read by a boy or girl in front of another screen from a different location. Nowadays, the only "notebook" homework seems to be compatible with is the portable computer.

On relationships matters, technology has extreme influence on how people express their feelings to each other. Simultaneously with the computer, the cell phone evolved giving people the opportunity to communicate not only orally, but through text messages too; during almost a decade sms with cute sentences and emoticons were sent from one mobile to another. And so a few years ago, the birth of smartphones, featured intelligent communication on a portable phone-computer basis which allows a couple - and lots of people - to be connected even if they're in separate places.

Thanks to portable devices, communication has grown, especially when it comes to social networks and relationships. In the old days, girls awaited anxiously for Valentine's Day to receive a flower, some candy, a card or to be asked out. Today, things have drastically changed for all that stuff has been posted on our "wall". Luckier girls get gadgets in order to be able to follow all the romantic stuff sent by their boyfriends to their profiles 24/7; apart from keeping an eye on each other. Since the breakthrough of social networks and additional apps, psychiatrists have been specializing on jealousy issues, I believe... (LOL)

Lots of posting, commenting, sharing, liking, disliking, inbox messaging -not to mention matchmaking and breakups - is done everyday around the world thanks to the appearance of these social networks. Profiles in these sites are headed by a popular sentence such as "In a relationship with" - and we all know how complex it is to entitle bonds -, just a simple way to impersonally introduce your companion to your family and friends while making public that you've fell for someone. How exciting it is to know there might be a few girls chasing your man, and by now they've realized he is emotionally attached to you, isn't it? How about you boys, you must feel proud that you're not part of the "unreliable gender" anymore.

Overall, the famous "I (Heart) U" has been a nomad and assured it's transcendence on the vocabulary. For those young courageous who might want to find out what it feels like to manually write a love letter, just ask your parents for advice, I'm sure they still remember about it. For those who choose the tiny keypads, just remember feelings can be easily hurt, so we got to be careful with what we say and do, especially when we got audience.

Anyways, never mind the instrument you prefer to use, the most important thing is to be "connected" with the ones you love, logged in, by phone, e-mail, smoke signs, Morse code or even side by side, and stay tuned with each other's feelings in order to maturely keep a relationship or end it, if it's the best thing to do.

By Ileana Covarrubias.