As they bill and coo

The constant advancement in the field of science and technology has made the world a global village and tech gadgets have become a part of routine life. These days, people depend on digital technology in their daily lives as it has made life easier and faster. No doubt, technology, in the form of cell phones, has also made love, romance and flirting easier than before. With just one click, one can start a love affair with anyone and there is no limit to how many love affairs you can have. Credit for this goes to cell phones.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Gulmena, a student of University of Peshawar in the psychology department, agreed that cell phones have made romance easy. She said that people, especially youngsters, send flirtatious and romantic messages with quotes about love, dripping with emotions to multiple recipients with cellular companies seemingly playing a crucial part in facilitating these mass-scale love stories. The business of sending romantic messages over mobile phones gains momentum in the month of February — the lovers’ month, she added.

According to Yaseen Ahmad, another university student, “Low rates for SMS and call packages of cellular companies make romance and flirtation easy. Girls and boys talk on the phone all night.” He went on to say that “now cellular companies are also asking their customers to dedicate love songs to their darlings on Valentine’s Day”.

Ayesha Sahibzada, a student of the Institute of Management Sciences, Hayatabad, says that “with the passage of time and spread of technology, ways of expressing love for others has changed”. She elaborated that in the past, pigeons, letters and greeting cards were used to express love but now cell phones and computers have replaced these things. She added that there are a lot of famous Bollywood and Pakistani songs explaining how lovers communicated in the past.

The patient, steadfast romance of previous days is now being replaced by the faced-paced restlessness of cellphones. There is no room for patience when people are so easily accessible. There is no effort involved in keeping a relationship going. One wonders if this trend signifies moral decline.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2015.