Most living things need certain elements to survive: food, water and oxygen. Relationships are no different. They need certain things to survive, and no matter what type of relationship you’re in, you need communication. Sadly, that resource is on the endangered species list.

Effective communication has been put on the verge of extinction by the emergence of texting instead of talking in person and the need to post every feeling on social media. People say they want more than “Netflix and chill”, but that’s not possible if you limit your ability to communicate to 140 characters or less.

The divorcestatistics.info website says that lack of communication is the leading cause for divorce. Selfgrowth.com agrees that poor communication causes relationships to end and even it-cortex.com says that poor communication is the reason that work relationships fail. All of these websites agree that poor communication leads to misunderstanding.

If it’s known that bad communication is ending relationships, then why aren’t people doing more to correct this? Have we become just a generation content with only being able to express ourselves with the limits of emojis and “I <3 U?”

Sound supposedly never ends. Once a sound is made, the vibrations go on forever. Take that into consideration when you whisper “I love you” to your significant other. That sound will go on forever. That’s a lot longer than a text message that will end up deleted to make space for
more messages.

Paper takes about a month to decompose, faster when it’s wet. When kept in a keepsake box, paper will decompose over years. Something to think about when you want to write a letter. It still lasts longer than a text though.

However you decide to communicate, make it effective so that communication comes off the endangered list. One way to ensure that is to talk to each other. Texting in all capitalization can equal excitement or anger and that is a huge difference in a relationship. Don’t post problems on social media if your partner doesn’t know they exist between you two. That’s a breakup in the making.

Communication keeps the relation thriving and alive. Let’s not leave something that important up to a strong signal or available data.