#Slack for Your Relationship?

Just over a year ago, my boyfriend Jason and I moved in together, after having spent about a year apart doing long distance while I was living in London. Our telecommunication skills had evolved and improved over that time and we got quite good at staying in touch through various media (evidenced by the fact that our relationship lasted!) After that year, when I finally made my way back to Canada, we went from thousands of miles away to living only a block apart, and soon after, sharing an apartment; I happily thought our mastery for telecommunications was to finally non-essential, a dying art, something we no longer had to rely on to keep our love alive.

Boy, was I wrong.

In the context of today’s technologies, all relationships could be considered semi long-distance, with the Omnipotent Internet allowing any two people to be constantly bridged by whatever means necessary. While blessed by innovations that make getting along easier, modern relationships are also riddled with the challenges that come from technology though.

Our InstaPot has saved us from hangry fights after busy work days, and our new cordless Dyson makes us (almost) fight over who gets to vacuum this week; however, I can’t speak as positively about texts, direct messages, and email. Though they’re a necessary part of any relationship — whether it be for sending cute texts, dropping into DMs to make after-work plans, venturing into longer emails and WhatsApp chains to plan trips with friends, or publicizing mutual love (see #vishjay on Instagram!) — in most relationships, there can be a lot of conversations going on at once. And a lot of things that still undoubtedly go unsaid (recall that taunting “…” bubble). Often, to our detriment, important or urgent things get lost in the frenzy of messages… or even get avoided altogether (whether consciously or not). This isn’t great for relationships, and somewhat surprisingly, even for those not-so-newly budding ones where you think the individuals involved have learned the ins and outs of good communication with each other.

Who wants to point out something logistical (though essential) by interrupting the momentum of a message thread sharing sweet nothings? (And maybe it’s just me, but sometimes I’d rather pay attention to the heart emojis Jason sends me than the reminder to add something to Splitwise.)

Enter: Slack.

Existing Slack users probably see where I’m going with this. But for those who haven’t used Slack before, here’s a rundown of the platform.

Slack (headquartered in Vancouver, BC, actually — represent!) is a popular messenger system used by a lot of companies to manage their internal communications, often to keep email inboxes from getting clogged up. One unique feature is that Slack allows admins to organize their workspaces by creating different channels for topics relevant to their staff, which keeps things tidy. Here’s a small example from my work at the Daily Hive:

When Jason and I moved in last year, he suggested we set up our own “workspace”, too. It resembles something like this:

It allows us to share information with each other, make lists, plan our adventures — all concurrently so nothing loses momentum or gets interrupted or lost. Notifications pop up in each #channel allowing us to chat about specific topics with a head’s up: I see a red marker indicating that, for instance, Jason wants to share a cool article he’s read (#learning or #professional-docs) as opposed to ask me about a travel decision (#adventure-plans). Different conversations require different attention spans, focus, and sometimes even, self-control. So, Slack helps us get in the right ‘headspace’ to deal with whatever the particular active thread in question is.

This helps us navigate the slew of information we come into contact with and put in between each other so that we prioritize, plan, and most importantly, have even better conversation when we’re together in person.

Would you use Slack with your significant other? Let me know below!

Of course, we still banter as normal and use others means of communicating online… but honestly, mostly when Slack is down or the power goes out :P

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on July 13, 2018.