Face- Off
“When you text, you activate the logical part of your brain, but when you speak, you use the emotional one.”
The communication handicap that comes with texting is even bigger than you might imagine. “You’re getting three times less information texting than in a face-to-face conversation,” says clinical psychologist Xavier Amador, Ph.D., author of I’m Right, You’re Wrong, Now What? “You can’t see facial expressions, hear tone of voice, or watch body language.” As a result, communicating can get really messy and mean. After all, it’s a lot easier to go below the belt when you don’t have to witness your BF’s gutted response. “When you’re in the same room, you can see him physically bracing for whatever you’re going to say, and that clues you in that you’re about to go too far,” says Major. “But you don’t have that kind of built-in safeguard with your smartphone.” And after you go there, even a welltimed “Damn you, autocorrect!” won’t make him forget.
If you’ve exchanged a few heated lines, delete the conversation... it’ll make it easier to move on.