Video chat and texting are essential tools in the digital dating world, especially when you and your partner are apart. However, there’s only so much you can do with multicolored heart emojis, minute-long audio recordings, and animated GIFs. Here are my favorite ways to keep a long distance relationship alive and well:
Share Reminder Photo
Who doesn’t love sending and receiving cute–and sometimes spicy-Picture? Photos are a great way to stay in touch and share everyday activities and achievements—even if it’s just how good your winged eyeliner looks before girls’ night.
When my boyfriend and I started our Web 2.0 romance, we discovered Locket (available for iPhone and Android). The locket is a widget that displays the photo right on the partner’s respective home screen. This widget not only encourages us to keep each other updated on our activities, but it also allows me to remind my daughter how cute I look in different outfits and make-up. week. The locket also stores photos sent back and forth on the widget, so you don’t have to worry about losing a good selfie.
A dating app worth keeping
Most singles these days are like that: Once you’ve started a serious relationship, it’s time to delete dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Bumble. However, other apps can stay on your phone forever. I highly recommend going Official. This app encourages healthy relationship habits and routines. Through the app, you can connect, store memories and create new ones. My favorite features are the “love” buttons, with the “I need attention”, “send love”, “take a dip” and “I’m in the mood” icons notifying my boyfriend about my thoughts and needs in real time. On Formal, you can also plan dates; compare intimate desires; create daily subscriptions; and save notes, memories and upcoming events. The app is useful and fun, and it can be sexy at the same time – which is absolutely a must. My partner and I love using the daily sentiment quiz feature to see who can come up with a better answer. During our friendly competition, I reluctantly conceded that he would beat me in a day or two.
Let’s Listen together
Building a playlist together is a great way to express your own feelings through someone else’s poetry (because sometimes only an Ariana Grande song can capture your love) or to Express your feelings, whether you are together or apart. I love using features on Spotify such as group session or possibility more collaborators to edit playlists or to hear what my partner is playing. It’s a great way to feel close to your partner while commuting to work, exercising, or relaxing at home. Having my other half in headphones is a great experience, even if he saturates our creations with a bit of experimental indie pop. I’ve discovered that there’s a limit to the amount of Lana Del Rey I can handle on my way to my 9:30 a.m. psychology lectures.
Continue Digital Day
Dating and intimacy maybe be digital. Making time for FaceTime or Skype appointments while drinking and dining (and whatever happens after that, winking) over the phone is a great way to plan a date. I use the FaceTime screen-sharing tool to listen to music and watch TikTok together while still on my phone. Netflix Teleparties is also a hit, as you and your partner can watch movies together and chat about them through an easily installable app. Extensions. Darpinan, in a interview with a film therapist Kristen Meinzer, discusses how movies can help us explore partnerships and release blocked emotions. As an art-loving NYU student living near Washington Square Park, I recently watched Kid Cudi’s Artist love story in Greenwich Village Galaxy on Teleparty with my boyfriend. We’ve had a blast showing animated versions of landmarks I live nearby, rooted in a love interest and fan of celebrity cameos.
Plan daily activities together
Planning activities together is a must, even if you are 3,000 miles away from your loved one. I like to compare schedules to see when my partner is free and find time to go to the gym, eat out, or work at the same time. I especially like to go shopping at the same time. Growing up in the 2010s as a staunch follower of the clothing era on YouTube, I greatly appreciated the moment of unboxing after hanging out and fashion/modeling over video chat.
I admire my long distance relationship. It has taught me to trust, set healthy boundaries, communicate effectively, and be independent. Digital dating with my beach lover is an unexpected gift and I wouldn’t trade the experiences we share, whether together or across the country, for anything . Love in the 21st century is more accessible than ever.
