The role of digital media platforms in maintaining intimate relationships in young Croatian couples

Digitalne medijske platforme su postale dio svakodnevnog života što se odražava na kvalitetu intimnih veza. Zbog isprepletenosti i uključenosti digitalnih medija u gotovo svaki aspekt života, dolazi do velike stalne povezanosti ljudi. Sve više se intimne veze odvijaju u online svijetu nego u stvarnom svijetu što dovodi do novih i drukčijih rituala održavanja intimnosti. Privrženost prema partneru se sada pokazuje preko digitalnih medija, spojevi se odvijaju online te se interakcija licem u lice mijenja s interakcijom sa zaslonom mobitela. U ovom radu se putem kvalitativne metode polu-strukturiranog intervjua istražio način stvaranja i održavanja intimnosti putem digitalnih medijskih platformi. Sugovornici/ce su 3 mlada para iz Hrvatske kojima dužina veze varira od 3 mjeseca do 4 godine. Jedan par je u vezi na daljinu a dva su u vezi na blizinu. Rezultati istraživanja koji su opisani u radu pokazuju da je proces stvaranja i održavanja intimnih veza putem digitalnih medija bio sličan onome opisanom u drugim povezanim istraživanjima. Uočena je važnost digitalnih medijskih platformi sugovornicima/cama kojima one predstavljaju alat koji im ima mogućnosti dati osjećaj bliskosti s partnerom. Stvaranje i održavanje intimnosti je bilo učinkovitije ukoliko je intimnost bila temeljena na ritualima, a ne samo riječima. Do problema je dolazilo ukoliko bi se partneri virtualno nadzirali i donosili samostalne zaključke.Digital media platforms have become a part of everyday life which is reflected in the quality of intimate relationships. Due to the intertwining and involvement of digital media in almost every aspect of life, there is a great constant connection of people. More and more intimate relationships take place in the online world than in the real world leading to new and different rituals of maintaining intimacy. Affection to a partner is now shown through digital media, connections take place online, and the face-to-face interaction changes with the interaction with the cell phone screen. In this paper, the way of creating and maintaining intimacy through digital media platforms was explored through the qualitative method of semi-structured interview. The interlocutors are 3 young couples from Croatia whose relationship length varies from 3 months to 4 years. One couple is in a long-distance relationship and two are in a close distance relationship. The results of the research described in the paper show that the process of creating and maintaining intimate relationships through digital media was similar to that described in other related research. The importance of digital media platforms to interlocutors was noticed, they see it as a tool that has the ability to give a sense of closeness with their partner. Creating and maintaining intimacy was more effective if intimacy was based on rituals rather than just words. Problems came if the partners were virtually monitored and made independent conclusions