ParcelHero, the international courier services specialist, has conducted a survey into long distance relationships which found that 6% of people who have had long distance relationships have never met their partner in person. * The survey was conducted to better understand how societal changes in communication have affected long-distance relationships.
The survey from YouGov found that 40% of people in the UK have had a long-distance relationship. The most common reason was people living in separate locations when they met (40%). For people aged 16-24, the most common reason was attending University in a separate city, at 37%.
Nearly half (48%) of 16-24-year-olds are still in their long-distance relationship – the highest percentage of all age groups. Interestingly, 16-24-year-olds were also the age-group most likely to agree that being long-distance has had a positive impact on their relationship, at 30%.
6% of people in long-distance relationships have never met their partner. Over a third (35%) of those are aged under 25. With 16-24-year-olds spending on average 34.3 hours per week on the internet, it could be said that an online relationship comes more naturally to younger people.
People in long distance relationships face plenty of challenges, but lack of physical intimacy was found to be the biggest challenge, with 40% of 16-24-year-olds saying this was the most difficult part of living far away from their partner. One respondent said: “The hardest part was talking day in, day out but not seeing each other for months.”
Difficulties in communicating (23%) and emotionally drifting apart (11%) came second and third. One person surveyed said: “I knew that it was hurting him every time I didn’t reply or didn’t want to phone him because I was too busy.”
Interestingly, lack of trust and jealousy were the least of young people’s concerns, at just 6%. One person said: “We never really had an issue with jealousy – we’re both quite independent and both quite like having lives outside of our relationship.” However, 5% did say that infidelity was the biggest challenge.
The number of people using their phone to make voice calls in the UK is falling, but people in long distance relationships counter this trend, with three quarters of people surveyed saying that they used phone calls to keep in touch with their long-distance partner.
Even among Millennials, who have been dubbed ‘generation mute’ due to their apparent distaste for telephone calls, when it came to their long-distance partner, 75% of them reported speaking on the phone to keep in touch. This compares to 83% of 40-54-year-olds and 71% of people aged over 55 who have had a long-distance relationship.
Young people (aged 16-24) are leading the charge when it comes to video calling. They are more likely to video call (77%) than phone call (70%) to contact their long-distance partner.
Unsurprisingly it was the younger generation who used messaging apps as their primary method of communication with their long-distance partner. A huge 83% of 16-24-year-olds reported using apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger to keep in touch. This compares to just 23% of those aged over 55 – although this could be down to how long ago the long-distance relationship took place, and when messaging apps became available.
You can find the article containing the findings here:
You can read the care package guide here:
https://www.parcelhero.com/blog/how2/how-to-make-a-valentines-care-package
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/08/01/decade-smartphones-now-spend-entire-day-every-week-online/
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/sep/08/one-in-four-uk-smartphone-weekly-phone-calls
