The Role of Social Media in Marital Relationships: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Year 2024, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 89 - 104

Esra Kıymaz , Nesrin Akıncı Çötok

https://doi.org/10.32568/jfce.1586770

Abstract

As part of the digital transformation of modern societies, social media has become a space where individuals express their identities, display their social roles, and make their relationships visible. This study adopts a symbolic interactionist framework to explore how social media reflects meaning, identity, and role processes within marital relationships. The research was conducted using a qualitative methodology. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 participants, and two focus group interviews with six people each were then used to deepen the findings. The data were analyzed thematically under the guidance of symbolic interactionist theory, and three main themes emerged: "new forms of communication in marriage," "representation of marriage on social media," and "definition of relationship roles." The findings show that social media serves as a tool for creating new meanings, identities, and roles in marriage. Within the framework of symbolic interactionism, social media symbols contribute significantly to strengthening emotional bonds, building trust, mitigating conflict, and raising awareness of gender roles in marital relationships. In addition, demographic factors such as age, years of marriage, and gender, as well as individual preferences and relationship dynamics, were found to influence meanings, identities, and roles within these interactions.

Keywords

Social Media, Marital Relationships, Marital Communication, Symbolic Interactionism.

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