Intimate Practice Of Long-distance Relationships On Social Media From Perspective Of Affordance

In the intimate practice of long-distance relationships,social media provides a medium environment for both parties to connect with each other.However,social media is not just a communication environment,its own functional characteristics can also have an active effect on the practice of intimacy in long-distance relationships.Most of the existing research on media and intimacy focuses on the presentation and performance of users in the media,while ignoring the impact of the technical logic of the media itself on the intimate relationship,and also ignoring the interactive relationship between the media and the user.Starting from the perspective of Affordance,this paper discusses the interaction relationship between social media and long-distance relationship.Using in-depth interviews,the study interviewed 25 respondents who had or have long-distance relationships to discover the relationship between social media and their intimate practices.Four types of social media affordances are found that are closely related to the daily interactions of long-distance couples based on social media.The aggregability combines rich media and poor media,allowing long-distance couples to achieve the simulation "physical presence";The visibility allows long-distance couples to control the viewing ability of content production and audience permissions,in order to achieve multi-level self presentation;The traceability helps long-distance couples to obtain the digital life picture of each other by digital surveillance;The quantifiability cultivates the intimate quantitative thinking of long-distance couples.With the development of technology,a new round of media revolution is approaching,and a new revolution will reshape the relationship between media and people.Long-distance relationships will perceive richer affordances,constantly gaining new growth through interaction with the media.