Shared Living, Experiences, and Intimacy over Video Chat in Long Distance Relationships

Abstract

Many couples live a portion of their lives being separated from each other as part of a long-distance relationship. This includes a large number of dating college students as well as established couples who are geographically separated because of situational demands such as work. Long distance couples often face challenges in maintaining some semblance of intimacy given the physical distance between them. Traditional media helped here, where they would stay connected by physical letters, telephones, e-mail, texting, and instant messaging. More recently, many couples resort to “hanging out” over the new generation of video chat systems in order to stay connected. We explore this phenomenon by presenting case studies of how couples in long distance relationships hang out over video. Each couple is in a unique relationship situation, yet all share increased intimacy over distance by leaving a video link going between their residences for extended periods of time. These episodes involve couples participating in activities that are sometimes shared and sometimes not, where the key component is simply feeling the presence and involvement of the remote partner in day to day life.