Impact of Technology on Marriages
Today’s fast-paced society can prevent married couples from spending quality time with one another. We are faced with more distractions than ever before. Increased technology often means more distractions. Cell phones ring at dinner, emails get answered during the evenings, the radio plays while on car rides, and the television can be heard as background noise all the time.
Spending time in the same room is not the same as spending quality time together. If one person is watching television and the other person is using the computer, this does nothing to build the relationship, even if they are sitting on the same couch. Couples who spend a lot of time like this can become disengaged from one another. Conversation can become limited to brief discussions about day-to-day operations such as who will drive the kids to soccer practice. Intimate conversations about goals, feelings, and dreams can become non-existent.
Sometimes, it feels like it takes extra energy to go on a date or even eat dinner together at the table instead of in front of the television. The importance of spending quality time together becomes more important the busier we become. Unfortunately, when people get busy and feel stressed, they sometimes turn to more passive activities, such as watching television. Spending quality time together distinguishes the relationship from roommates living together to being a married couple.
Schedule time with your partner. Try to spend at least 15 minutes per day engaging in meaningful conversation. Plan to spend longer periods of time together on weekends or days off. Spend time talking and planning your next date.
Dates do not require you to even leave the house. Stay home and play a board game or cook dinner together. Agree to give each other your undivided attention. Keep computers off. Don’t answer the phone. Hire a sitter to take the children out for an ice cream or send them to Grandma’s house for the night. Slow down and just enjoy each other’s company without the distractions of technology.
