Is It OK To Break Up Via Email? We Say Yes.

Today we stumbled across an article that claimed over half of 2,000 people surveyed for DateTheUK had dumped a significant other via some sort of electronic device. In this instance, "electronically" meant updating a Facebook relationship status (ouch), sending out an ominous tweet or shooting a "hey, let's just be friends" e-mail. This left only 46 percent who were traditional enough (or perhaps just not Internet savvy)to break ties in person or over the phone. Actual phone, not text, that is. Dumped for Punctuation!

This is supposed to be shocking (it isn't) and even lends to a quote from their marketing manager that already sounds dated:

Digital Dumping will soon take over when it comes to ending a relationship. It's often easier, quicker and avoids any misunderstandings.

Will soon take over? Hell, with online dating thrown into the mix we've conducted entire relationships electronically. Everything from the wink, to the message, to the text, to the e-mail exchange, to the Facebook friend request, to the picture comment/wall posting to the IM chats, to the inevitable blocking and unfriending—which we're pretty sure is universal code for "it's over."Dumped? 10 Healthy Ways To Heal

However, as with all things in life, there's a nice way to end things electronically and a douchebag way. We'll even go so far as to say if you make the effort to formally break up, you're ahead of at least 30 percent of the pack. And, of course, if you've been dating for, say, more than a few months, even the most poetic Facebook breakup message will ultimately look cowardly. So use your discretion. But hey, we don't see anything wrong with a well thought-out farewell e-mail for one of those middle-of-the-road relationships. But if you went to the trouble of changing your facebook status for said person, you definitely owe them a message before you tell the world you're "single" again. Because honestly, that's just the equivalent of disappearing on someone, with the pesky electronic leash of the internet getting in the way. Facebook Causes Romantic Jealousy

Granted, as writers, we might be biased in favor of "digital dumping," given our comfort sitting at a computer, hen-pecking through an online thesaurus in search of perfect phrasing. We're much more eloquent via written word and don't hold it against others if they are, too. In fact, a breakup e-mail, read in private, sounds humane and polite. We'd kill for that over a fumbled, face-to-face where we wore our pretty underwear just in case, or an awkward phone conversation where the barista at Starbucks learns more then she needs to while steaming our milk.