Emotional Communication In Intimate Relationships : A Qualitative Study On The Use Of Social Software Among Young People In Long-distance Relationships

Media plays an important role in the construction,development and maintenance of intimate relationship,The ever-changing medium of communication becomes the“Witness”of the emotional maintenance of intimate relationships.With the rapid development of media technology,long-distance interpersonal communication is becoming more and more convenient.Social software based on mobile devices is becoming an increasingly important part of daily life.Even if couples can not communicate face-to-face because of distance,they can “Instantly connect”with their long-distance lovers via social software such as Facetime and wechat video to realize the “Virtual presence”of long-distance lovers.The alternative is to satisfy the interaction needs of the lovers,building digital intimacy,to complete emotional communication between long-distance lovers.In the context of media-mediated communication,the purpose of this study was to explore the use of social media by long distance lovers at various stages of intimate relationship development,and to generalize the specific factors that affect their emotional communication,to understand the effect of social software as a communication terminal on long-distance relationships.The study found that when people use social software to connect with their romantic partners and form communication scenarios,both partners are engrossed in communication in order to better achieve the effect of emotional communication,even when they are far away.This instant communication situation formed,requires both parties to communicate must be physically and mentally at the same time,with a sticky environment effect.Based on this,the term “Sticky scene”is proposed in this study,attempts to describe more generically the characteristics of a situation in which social software is used for emotional communication.New scenarios constructed through social software have features that melt public private boundaries,intensify media immersion,and increase communication exit costs.The use of social software has opened up the private sector and led to confusion about roles in communication.The dual requirements of physical presence and mental immersion,as well as the need to be on-line at all times.The use of social software has led to the opening up of the private sphere,the confusion of communication roles,the dual requirements of physical presence and mental immersion,and the need for emotional communication to be on-line at all times.These three points affect the emotional communication effect of long-distance love intimate relationship in the final realization.