Matt Flag and his girlfriend were able to endure long-distance dating with the help of technology and the photogenic dog they share:
I’m not suggesting that pictures can make a relationship work. And I’m not exactly sure why dog pictures are more effective for me than Skype or the telephone or texts. Suffice it to say that, with or without any kind of modern technology, living with half the continental U.S. between you and your significant other is difficult and, bottom line, an entirely mediated relationship is sub-ideal: the things around you will always be more immediate and grass is quantifiably greener when it isn’t piped through the internet before it appears on a screen. …
At the same time, though, this dog — something very much a product of our ability to raise it but at the same time independent, separate, us mediated into dog-life — has made a huge difference. And somehow, the camera, a known liar, manages to capture his personality, and once a day I laugh at him and, more abstractly, see some kind of diffracted reflection of how good my girlfriend and I are together. Somehow, through all the wires, the pictures are genuine and uplifting. That, to me, is the magic of creativity, technology done right: just when you think it can’t help but lie, obfuscate, confuse, it seems to reach out and give you something real.
The Dish 