Getting Their (Wireless) Lines Crossed

He Twitters but She Texts? Sigh. These Days, High-Tech Options Can Short-Circuit a Romance.

Scarlett Johansson, left, with Drew Barrymore, whose character, Mary, gets excited when a man asks her out via MySpace in "He's Just Not That Into You." Such is the romance of modern technology. (New Line Cinema)

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By Monica Hesse

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 4, 2009

The relationship did not end because of Elizabeth Fishkin's boyfriend's text aversion.

On the other hand, it didn't exactly help.

Like the time when they were supposed to meet for dinner, and Fishkin texted him to say she was waiting at the restaurant bar. Thirty minutes later, she finally spotted him. Standing outside. He'd never gotten the message -- didn't even realize what his cellphone's buzzing had signified. No disrespect intended; he just wasn't a texting kind of guy.

But Fishkin, who works in advertising, is a texting kind of gal. Nothing obsessive, maybe five times a day -- she just likes the ease, the directness, the speed of the medium. Texting is her language.

"I thought, if this is going to be such an issue . . . " she says.

Months later: another date, another guy, another technological incompatibility. This time she was out with someone who wanted to text . . . everyone.

"He kept talking about Twitter." Fishkin rolls her eyes. "Ashton Kutcher. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter."

Can a texter love a Twitterer? Can star-crossed lovers overcome wire-crossed gadgets? Can these relationships be saved?

Mary: He asked me out!

Nathan: He called?

Mary: Well . . .

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