Think of the worst conversation you've ever had via text. Maybe it was right in the middle of a breakup, when you were at your lowest point, emotionally. Well, one unfortunate girl's breakup text message conversation just got broadcast to the world via Twitter. The part where she asks him if he still loves her. The part where she asks him to take her back. The part where he tells her in no uncertain terms that he will never, ever be her friend. And then sends a mocking gif. It's all there. And it kind of makes me fear for the future of romance.
Okay, so if you read the conversation, you'll see that Twitter user Kane Zipperman broke up with his girlfriend because she cheated on him. Fair enough! I'd say that's grounds for a breakup. And I can see why he'd be hurt and angry and refuse to be friends with her after that. Totally understandable. But to then repost their whole exchange on Twitter? Ugh, not cool.
A lot of people are passing the convo around for the laugh and the bro back slap. Huffington Post's headline reads "This Is Why You Don't Cheat on a Bro Who Knows His Memes." Like, duuude, he showed her! There's this really embarrassing part where he calls her on accidentally quoting Hitler. SIGH. I don't know which makes me cringe more, that, or the parts where she keeps begging him to take her back despite his very clear assurances that he is NEVER TAKING HER BACK!
You could get stuck at the rubber-necker, gawking, neanderthal-level drooling over how funny it is, and how she got what she deserved.
But -- and I'm speaking to the more evolved of my species, so if this hurts your brain, please do stop reading at this point -- doesn't this just make you sad? People of all ages make terrible, regrettable mistakes in love. And then they have "talks" like this one. And then, because we live in this electronic age, a lot of those conversations happen via text message. All it takes is a few seconds to send a painful, private exchange into the public. And you can never, ever take that back.
I guess what I'm saying is this could happen to any of us. In every relationship you take a leap and trust another human being with your deepest feelings. What does it mean that those feelings can be exposed to a large, jeering audience? I think in general, it's best to have emotional conversations in private or over the phone -- for a lot of reasons. Seeing your intimate thoughts get passed around via Twitter is just one of those reasons, but a pretty compelling one. What kind of future does romance have in this electronic age?
How often do you have deeply personal, emotional conversations via text message?
Image © Jamie Grill/Tetra Images/Corbis