Bill Gates - the Anti-Christ of Relationships?

Albert Einstein once said, "Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal." Obviously, Einstein never read my blog.

But I have to admit that he was onto something. Sometimes, particularly in relationships, technological "progress" can rear it's ugly head creating headaches where headaches didn't used to be.

I've had a number of conversations (in person mind you) with people in the past week alone regarding this topic and the stories trip over each other for reasons why sometimes, excessive use of technology in relationships, can backfire like a '72 Pinto.

The following are experiences of mine of recent or those of my friends, but, I know it's happened to us all....

Does this sound familiar?

You forward an email from the guy you have a little crush on to your best friend. You hit "send". She opens the dude's email (attached to the one you sent) and in all her excitement, just hits "reply" with tips on how to make this guy fall head over heels for you, etc. But it never gets to you because she opened HIS email and replied to HIM and your message was attached. Oops.

How about when you get in an argument with your friend and decide that since you're both stubborn you're going to text message or email each other and the situation takes a serious Gonzo nosedive because you each put your own interpretation on the written messages. What could have been settled with a quick conversation explodes into crap feelings and mixed messages - quite literally.

Or what about the time you sent your co-worker/friend an email that was bitching about how much your boss sucks and how hard he's riding you and, oopsy, you sent it to the whole office. Ouch. Can you say "pink slip"? (Note: the 'reply all' button should be removed from all email accounts)

My favorite: you send a text message to an ex accidentally (this happened just the other day when I started receiving random text messages from EC - when I called him on it the messages stopped - what a MORON). Hint: there is a delete option on your cell phone for a reason.

We have become so dependent on technology for communication it's actually crippling our already arduous ability to communicate in relationships. When I sit back and think that back in the "dark ages" (i.e, circa 1996), there was no such thing as Instant Messaging or text messaging and only a select few people had cell phones (unless you count those GIANT boxes that they called cell phones) and email, it seems like a whole different world. To communicate with someone, we actually had to pick up a telephone (land line) or, god forbid, go see someone in person. There was no possible way to get into an argument with another person except in person or at the very least, on voice to voice contact. Now, entire relationships begin and end with very little, if any, human contact.

Does this worry anyone else but me? If the modes of communication have changed this dramatically in 10 years - where will we be in another 50 years? Perhaps Einstein was right.... he nailed that relativity thing on the head...