Relationships in the Digital Age: A new perspective

The rise of technology and social media has been blamed for creating a generation of anti-social kids obsessed with their screens. A 2014 study carried out by Griffith University and the University of Queensland has found that this is untrue. Technology is not the enemy. In fact, the study showed that while high school and college students have fewer friends, they are less lonely, have higher self esteem and are more secure in their relationships than they were ten years ago. This is all thanks to social media.

Canberra is often referred to as the city populated with students, diplomats or politicians. All three of these groups of people are usually far away from home. In recent years, distances have been reduced because of the ease in communication created by Facebook, Skype, Instagram etc. People can be more connected to their families and friends even if they are far away – a luxury that was unheard of just ten years ago.

Mrs. Zulfiqar, a PhD student at Australian National University, compares her relationship with her husband now to twenty years ago.  Her husband left to study in America, while she and her daughter stayed back with his family.

Mrs. Zulfiqar says Skype was a luxury she could not even imagine in those days. She could only talk to her husband once a week on the landline, because international calling was too expensive. Cell phones were unheard of back then so she had to settle for formal conversations with him, while his family waited for their turn to talk to him.

“I felt like I was living the life of a widow,” she says, “because I barely had any contact with my husband. I forgot what he looked like and I had to make major decisions without my partner.”

She recalls one particular incident when she had gotten into a horrible car accident and had cuts and bruises all over her face. Her husband found out about the accident when he came home to visit a year later and saw the scars on her face.

“I would never be able to hide something like that from him today,” she laughs.

Twenty years later, Mrs. Zulfiqar finds herself living away from her husband again, as he works overseas. She says it is much easier now. They Skype twice a day and email back and forth.  She says his presence is all around her since she can easily contact him and see him whenever she wants. These feelings are echoed by many people.