The Digital Infrastructure of Intimacy

Abstract

The paper presents findings from an empirical study of the ways in which young people appropriate digital space for the purposes of their intimate experiences. The theme of intimate relationships is traced from two perspectives: through the places where they occur (a kind of topography of digital space for everyday use is made, and different territories are conceptualized as arenas of intimacy) and through the specific rituals of intimacy, which respondents conceive through symbolic forms of recognition (e.g. public digital disclosure of the fact of commitment) or symbolic forms of violence (e.g. digital humiliation as a result of jealousy or relationship termination). I define digital arenas and on-stage intimacy as a type of public intimacy specific to the digital space, where the private is made public to specific audiences in order to better understand and appreciate the self and the self in relationship, incorporating the reactions (imagined or real) of others to achieve a richer and more intense sense of intimacy.

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