Online Tools: The Keys to a Happy Long Distance Relationship

There has never been a better time for long distance relationships. Within the last decade, there has been an immense boom in the online dating and online communication market. This market has been propelled largely by partners longing to communicate with the ones they love who are too far away to touch.

From circumstance to happenstance, we are a world of lovers online. According to one survey conducted this year, as many as 14 million couples define themselves as being part of a long distance relationship.

Whether a job has your partner traveling for business or you met your soul mate from another state on a dating site, rest assured that your relationship doesn’t have to suffer.

Be creative when it comes to your long distance relationship by using every possible tool available.

Get Familiar with Your Options

 From your phone to your computer, to your tablet you can connect with your partner at any moment. Make a schedule and cover all your bases in order to stay connected in long distance relationships:

• Skype when you’re at home.
• Facetime on the way to work.
• Download Snapchat to exchange silly interactions.
• Download apps like Periscope to share special moments like sports events or graduation.

Share a Hobby or Interest Online

 The goal is to have some playful activity to share with your partner every day. The silliest ideas might surprise you, so remember to keep an open mind. Try every activity to see what brings you closer:

• Share a Google Play subscription where you can access music. Make playlists for each other to listen to when you wake up and when you go to bed.
• Challenge each other in online games with Chess or Trivia Apps.
• Learn a language together using Duolingo. You can track each other’s progress and even make it a competition!
• Start your own two-person book club where you take turns choosing a book or a podcast to consume and discuss.

Online Date Nights

 Distance is no excuse to let romance go out the window! Dress up on some nights, or throw your hair in a ponytail on others. You can still live out your ideal relationship online if you're in a long distance relationship!

• Have dinner together via Skype; order pizza for each other; or if you really want to step it up, find a recipe to cook at the same time.
• Use the ‘Share Screen’ option to watch a movie together where you can talk (or not) during the film.
• Don’t be afraid to suggest something sexy- like a striptease, perhaps. A healthy level of intimacy and vulnerability is crucial to bonding.

Go Old-School

Advanced technology has become the norm so much so that we have forgotten about our other options! Don’t underestimate the nostalgia that yesteryear methods of communication can bring to long distance relationships.

• Call your partner! Unexpectedly, as well. Pick up your phone and use it as it was originally intended. A surprise ‘good morning’ or ‘good night’ goes a long way.
• Send a letter, a postcard or gift in the mail to give your partner butterflies!
• Grand gestures are the saving grace of long distance relationship ruts. If you’ve been having a week where you just can’t find the means to connect, send flowers or send a friend to deliver a bottle of wine.

Get Strange

If your relationship still needs a boost, or you are lucky enough to have a fun partner who likes to be silly, try these unconventional long-distance gadgets to ease the struggle:

• Kiss each other from miles away using the Lovotics Kissenger. Each of you will have a robot to kiss, and when you press your lips against it at the same time, you can feel each other’s kiss.
• Fall asleep with your partner using the Little Riot Pillow Talk Pillow. The way this works is by wearing a bracelet digitally connected to your pillow. When you lay down, the pillow glows and beats to the rhythm of your partner’s heartbeat to emulate their presence.
• Without going into too much detail, there are ways to...replicate your partner’s organs so you can simulate sexy time together. I’ll just leave this

Long distance relationships have been blessed by technology; and some might even say, technology has been blessed by long distance relationships. Love knows no limits in today’s world, especially with the prevalence of online dating sites (like eharmony and Zoosk). Being separated by distance doesn’t mean you can’t be together in other ways. Clever uses of technology and a hefty dose of effort are the perfect placeholders until you can hold each other again. So, plug in and recharge your relationship with all the energy your heart has to give.