Communication – basically defined as the passage of information from one person to another – plays an important role in any human relationship. It is only through communication – verbal and non verbal - after all, that you can let the other person know what you feel and think about them, and what you expect them to do for you, among other things. It is also only through communication that the various conflicts that are bound to occur in the course of human relationships can be resolved.
Communication as applied in a long distance relationship, however takes another unique dimension, especially given that such communication, as applied in long distance love relationships, is stripped of its non verbal component, which in face-to-face relationships, often proves more crucial to proper communication than even the verbal component. A couple in a long distance relationship, might of course try to make up for this lack of non-verbal cues in the communication through the use of now available technology like webcam and video conferencing, but these can never be quite good substitutes of face to face communication.
Ultimately though, the success or otherwise of a long distance relationship depends to a large extent on how the partners in the relationship maintain their communication. Long distance relationships that gradually die are the ones in which the partners neglect communication, and especially the sort of communication that is ideal for relationship building, like where you make affirmations of how much you love your significant other (in spite of you being in a long distance love relationship that you have no opportunity of consummating) and how much your significant other means to you, in spite of the distance between you.
In the final analysis, it is only long distance relationships in which the partners take responsibility for their communication (rather than one in which it is left to chance) that have any chance of success.
