It’s important to pay attention to your partner in romantic relationships, and so many people ay close attention to their phone but ignore your partner. Let’s say that you’re out to dinner with your boyfriend, and you’re planning on having a romantic evening, but you notice that he keeps on checking his phone. You’re not sure what he’s doing; maybe, he’s on Facebook or Twitter, or perhaps, he’s texting a friend. Whatever the case may be, it’s upsetting you. You haven’t looked at your phone – in fact, it’s in your bag. These are things that impact relationships and make it difficult to bond with your partner. So, let’s talk about how you can make time for each other and not ignore people or get ignored when you should be paying attention to one another.
It’s time to put that phone away
When you’re having a date night, your phone should be in your bag. You don’t need to pay attention to your phone unless there’s a family emergency, or other unavoidable call. It’s okay to check it every hour, maybe, especially if you have kids. If you and your partner have children together, or if either of you are single parents, you need to have access to your phone because if something goes wrong and the babysitter has to contact you, you have to be able to pick up. However, you don’t need to be obsessively checking your phone, and you definitely don’t need to be checking your social media. Your phone needs to be put away so that you can bond with your partner. That is a reasonable request because you’ll irritate someone if you’re checking your phone excessively rather than being present in the moment with them. When you’re out on a date night, try to leave your phone in your bag and make sure to be emotionally present.
Talk to your partner about your feelings instead of talking about them online
I have a friend who often sees her boyfriend post about his emotions on social media, but he doesn’t talk to her directly about them. That’ll create a divide in a relationship, and for her, it has. He’s open about his feelings with virtual strangers, but he won’t talk to her. There’s a time and place to vent on social media about a variety of topics, but we all know that your support system – and especially your significant other – is helpful to talk to in person. So, before you go online and start venting, talk to your partner. This person should care about you, and if you’re afraid to tell them how you feel, there could be a problem.
Social media and trust
So many relationships end because one partner was unfaithful and had an affair with someone on they met on social media or developed an emotional, more-than-friends type of connection with someone they met online. Social media makes it easy to connect with people around the world, and that’s great, but it’s important to be mindful of who you and your partner are talking to online. Be honest and open about it; that way, you don’t need to feel jealousy towards the people that you and your partner talk to. Especially if you or your partner work in social media or if either of you are a writer or a blogger and need to spend a lot of time online for work, you know that all of this is a balance to strike. It’s so easy for us to have jealousy towards people that we’ve never met, but if we’re open about our relationship, it can help.
Couples counseling
If your relationship is suffering because your partner has a social media addiction or you’re having trouble that’s impacted by technology, couples counseling can help. Search from the couples counselors at Regain and find somebody that you and your partner can talk to about your problems, whether they’re technology related or not.