Do you ever feel like FaceTime and texting just aren’t interesting enough in terms of communication with your partner? Maybe you want to spice things up a bit in terms of how you connect with each other when there’s some physical distance between you? Well I have a few tried and true ways to unconventionally stay in contact with your significant other.
Sending TikToks
You might already do this, but I’ve found it to be a really fun way to communicate. Typically my SO and I send each other the most random things on TikTok, such as memes, cringy relationship clips, random places we want to visit and maybe even some passive-aggressive angry girlfriend TikToks when I’m in a bad mood. (I don’t advise doing the last one unless you’re prepared for your partner to get a little upset with you.)
One of my personal favorite things to send him are recipes I’d like to try with him. Some of them are somewhat extravagant and not easy to do in college, specifically from content creators like @mxyrium or @emilymariko. But there are some TikTok-ers out there whose content is specifically tailored toward “broke” college students, such as @twiinletoess or @violet.cooks. Sharing recipes gives us something to look forward to when we’re together and provides a different way for us to have quality time.
Writing Love Letters
Near the beginning of lockdown back in March/April of 2020, my boyfriend and I sent each other love letters as an alternative to traditional texting. Now the entirety of the letter wasn’t filled with “lovey-dovey” content; a lot of it ended up being random things like what we did that day or something that was on our mind in that specific moment. Writing letters is a really great, intimate way to connect with your partner, and it also gives you cute mementos from a particular time in your life for you to look back on.
As I was mindlessly scrolling through TikTok the other night around 1:30am, I came across a particular video that showed this one young woman excitedly parading around her apartment holding a journal. As I scrolled through her account’s feed, I discovered that she is in a long distance relationship, and the special way she and her boyfriend stay in contact is by mailing a journal back and forth to each other. I thought this was a really sweet and unique way to stay in contact, even though it may be on the pricier side since mailing a journal is more expensive than mailing a letter.
A Couple’s App: Tuned
This app is by far one of my favorite ways to stay in contact with my boyfriend. Tuned is an app specifically designed for couples that allows for them to connect in a safe, virtual space. There are several things you can do on this app such as sending each other “challenges” that give you both questions to answer about each other, posting a song to your feed, check-ins to ensure that you both are on the same page and so much more. This app is really good for long distance couples since it offers an alternative form of easy access and communication.
My favorite feature is the one that allows you to share your mood. If I’m feeling extra loved in a particular moment by my boyfriend, I can shift the color wheel and change my mood’s title to “fond” or “smitten.” If I’m feeling grumpy or angry, and it may not have anything to do with my boyfriend, I can change my mood to show him that instead of texting him “I’m angry.” This feature allows for simple communication between you and your partner for how you’re respectively feeling, and forms a deeper bond between the two of you.
There are many other ways to stay in contact with your SO, and it’s so easy to get creative with that! Communication with a long distance partner isn’t always seamless, so ensuring that you both have a safe space to connect is incredibly important in maintaining your thriving relationship.