North Texas Daily

When conversing about relationships, concepts that come to mind are romantic activities like handholding, hugging, kissing and cuddling. However, some individuals fail to comprehend how physical touch does not have to be a critical factor in determining if a relationship will survive. 

Social media portrays relationships as couples partaking in activities by being physically present together. These range from the universal movie and picnic dates to dancing with a significant other in the rain. Even the least romantic person would be slightly envious of the assumed picture-perfect bond. 

On stereotypical “couples goals” accounts featured on Twitter and Instagram, collages of couples physically being together are posted. With couple’s accounts, one would presume there would be equal representation among those endless copy-and-paste pictures. Yet, a lack of representation regarding virtual couples persists as an unresolved issue.

These accounts could gain more followers by appealing to in-person and long-distance couples. At the minimum, they could release occasional content for virtual relationships, such as a few date ideas, due to the similar availability of in-person and long-distance date ideas. 

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, media outlets have produced a plethora of articles consisting of various date ideas, like streaming a TV show, cooking together and sending each other care packages. There are no excuses as to why there is no support for long-distance relationships simply because couples are physically separated.

The solitary boundary that separates long-distance couples is extended periods of physical separation. The fear of long-distance relationships eventually becoming stale has spread around social media platforms to the point where frequent users are familiar with it. While it is unclear what initiated the fallacy, there are various reasons to debunk the theory, especially within standard social expectations.

As for those social expectations, long-distance relationships have no hidden factors. While in-person relationships are a cultural norm, the shift to standardize long-distance relationships is an apparent struggle due to the unique situation those couples have to navigate. 

Not every relationship relies on physical touch. Love languages pose a secondary threat to burning out long-distance relationships, as portrayed by social media and general social expectations. However, most long-distance relationships can thrive with the primary love languages of gift-giving, quality time, acts of service and words of affirmation.

The only disadvantage of long-distance relationships presented by social media is distance. Even though there is no remedy for the lack of physical touch, long-distance couples can meet as often as once every month, six months or annually. However, based on their love languages, long-distance couples can usually determine whether their relationship will function with or without physical touch.

The few date ideas for long-distance couples mentioned previously are just a few of the ones available. Long-distance relationships allow couples to try activities virtually, such as doing karaoke, writing poetry, attending a virtual concert and making virtual photo albums. Additional advantages to long-distance relationships include valuing a significant other’s presence, cherishing memories made together more than an in-person couple would, building independence, individual patience, intimacy and creativity. 

Like in-person relationships, couples can reuse long-distance date concepts to bring new ones to the table. For instance, couples can spend a night baking cookies and another cooking pasta. That example alone would incorporate creativity and building intimacy, two benefits that immediately strengthen a long-distance relationship.

Finally, long-distance relationships can nurture individualistic lifestyles depending on the time that passes between phone calls. Long-distance couples gradually begin to genuinely cherish each other for the time they dedicate to the relationship, constructing independence and patience, as long-distance couples must commit time to their relationship, again, more so than in-person couples.

Long-distance relationships may sound terrifying because of common misconceptions, but there are only a few minor variations compared to in-person relationships.

Long-distance relationships can strengthen a couple’s bond and create a deeper appreciation for each other’s time together and connection — social standards and social media platforms already warp reality. There is no reason for them to distort the misinformation further.

Featured Illustration by Jazmine Garcia