Avoidance of conflict may involve actual physical flight; for example, leaving the scene of the conflict (walking out of the apartment or going to another part of the office), falling asleep, or blasting the stereo to drown out all conversation. It may also take the form of emotional or intellectual avoidance, whereby you leave the conflict psychologically by not dealing with the issues raised. As avoidance increases, relationship satisfaction decreases (Meeks, Hendrick, & Hendrick, 1998). Sometimes avoidance is a response to demands—a conflict pattern known as demand–withdrawal. Here one person makes demands and the other person, unwilling to accede to the demands, withdraws from the interaction (Canary, Cupach, & Messman, 1995; Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, 2007; Sagrestano, Heavey, & Christensen, 2006). This pattern is obviously unproductive, but either individual can easily break it—either by not making demands or by not withdrawing and instead participating actively in conflict management.Although avoidance is generally an unproductive approach, this does not mean that taking time out to cool off is not a useful first strategy. Sometimes it is. When conflict is waged through e-mail or some social network site, for example, this is an easy-to-use and often effective strategy. By delaying your response until you’ve had time to think things out more logically and calmly, you’ll be better able to respond constructively, to address possible resolutions to the conflict, and get the relationship back to a less hostile stage. And there is some research that shows that as couples age, although they continue to experience the demand–withdrawal pattern, they avoid the conflict rather than confront it (Holley, Haase, & Levenson, 2013). And it seems to work for them. Similarly, in many cultures (and in many specific conflict encounters), avoidance—especially avoiding conflict in public—may be a face-saving strategy and may prove useful in resolving conflict and in preserving the relationship (Cai & Fink, 2002; Jandt, 2021).