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With Valentine’s Day approaching, I’m contemplating dropping my boyfriend ‘the Texter,’ as my friends call him, because he prefers a 2-D relationship to spending real time with me. I want to tell him face to face that occasional sexting doesn’t compensate for warm and cuddly or spontaneous conversation. I want to read his facial expressions and interpret the tone of his voice. Is that too much to ask from someone who he calls me his girlfriend?

–AGT, Brooklyn, NY

Think of texting as maintenance. Obviously there is a right way of texting to strengthen your relationship and knowing there’s a wrong way that only creates distance. There are things you shouldn’t be texting about. For instance new information that could leave one of you wondering during the downtime, when you’re not texting, that something is new or amiss. Just because you can tell anything to anyone at anytime doesn’t mean you necessarily should.

For instance, if you had applied for a new dream job that came through and he waited a couple of hours to text back “Gratz!” Wouldn’t you be annoyed that he waited so long and didn’t seem as thrilled as you would have liked him to be, if you had waited to tell him in person?

Level with him. You’re not on the same playing field. You’re looking for romance and he’s still into his x-box. Maybe it is time to move on. Tell him how you feel. Set guidelines about spending time together. Tell him you both have to save the important conversations like your acing your dream job — or wanting to break up with him because you you two don’t get enough face time — so that he can see your glow when you’re with him, or you his disappointment that you’re dumping him.

~Didi