6ADOLESCENT CHALLENGES IN VIRTUAL EMOTIONAL
RELATIONSHIPS
Zamanuddin Amiri*1 Gulrahman Jahesh2 *[email protected]
*1,2Deparment: Psychology. Faculty of Educating Pajshir Higher Educatin Institute
In the last two decades, the advancement of technology and internet communication has dramatically affected emotional relationships. These developments have led to a dramatic increase in long-distance emotional relationships. The current research was conducted with the aim of investigating the challenges that adolescent boys face in online emotional relationships. This research was conducted using a qualitative method using a phenomenological approach. The studied community included the teenagers of Khairkhaneh in Kabul city in the spring of 1403. Sampling was done based on the purpose with its main criterion, the main condition of which was that the teenager has an emotional relationship with a person who is more than 50 kilometers away. Sampling continued until data saturation was reached. After coding the data, the findings were classified into eight central themes and three main themes of psychological challenges, related to society and culture, and related to social networks. According to the findings of this research, teenagers face many problems and challenges in long-distance online emotional relationships. Recognizing these challenges can help us better understand how we can respond to them, provide solutions, and guide them towards healthy and deep emotional relationships.
Keywords: adolescent, emotional relationships, online, virtual relationships, Internet
INTRODUCTION
The advancement of technology and internet communication in recent decades has had many effects on emotional relationships and has caused a significant increase in long-distance emotional relationships [1]. Currently, there is no universally agreed definition for long-distance emotional relationships. They are often defined by the lack of face-to-face contact due to geographic distance; And their communication continues through electronic communication, internet, phone and other means of communication. These communications that are formed through the online space nowadays are less expensive and the social
ABSTRACT
norms of the offline space of both sides play a lesser role in
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them[1,2,4,5]. The formation of a long-distance emotional relationship requires attention to several aspects that can positively affect the creation and strengthening of communication [4, 3]. Written communication can include everyday topics, personal experiences with common interests. These tools allow people to get to know each other from a distance and to form a foundation for the formation of primary emotional connections [6]. To create a deeper connection, video calls play a fundamental role, which can provide the opportunity to see each other and transfer feelings and information better. These calls allow people to experience the feeling of physical presence despite the geographical distance, and this helps to strengthen communication. does [7,8]. One of the major differences between face-to-face relationships and long-distance relationships is the amount of physical contact between people. In face-to-face emotional relationships, people can be present in front of each other to spend time and create special moments and have physical contact with each other. This physical connection can create a feeling of equality and intimacy between them. While in long-distance emotional relationships, people are connected through digital space and online platforms, although online platforms allow people to communicate at any time and place, they create a feeling of equality and less intimacy [9,11,23,31]. Another difference between face-to-face emotional relationships and long-distance emotional relationships is the level of transparency and honesty in communication. In emotional, face-to-face relationships, people communicate with each other in different situations and over time, and this makes them able to directly and openly express their feelings and needs to each other. This is despite the fact that online emotional relationships, interactions and conversations between the parties usually take place in the form of short messages. For this reason, transparency and honesty may decrease in this type of communication [10,15,29]. Adolescent boys' challenges in online long-distance relationships
In addition, in cases where people have problems in an online emotional relationship due to physical distance, they may not be able to address problems directly together and solve them, which can gradually cause distance and reduce the relationship between two opinions. be; And in addition, due to the lack of physical presence, people's feelings and needs may not be properly communicated to each other [9,26,29]. As a result, these relationships can cause loneliness and depression in people, which has a great negative impact on their mental health and social performance [20.26]. Also, in long-distance emotional relationships, factors such as dissatisfaction with the relationship, feelings of aggression, inability to manage the emotions of other people's attraction, or insufficient opportunities for sex can cause people to betray their emotional partner [22, 20]. In addition, according to the researches that have been conducted
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in the neighboring countries, the hardening of marriage conditions and the fading of religious and traditional values and emerging value perspectives have caused the foundation of these relationships [17]. In addition to the mentioned cases, it is better to consider that girls' and boys' experience of long-distance emotional relationships may have differences due to various factors, and they show different preferences, choices and behaviors [19,20]. The difference in girls' and boys' experience of longdistance relationships may be due to differences in gender, culture, and upbringing. In this study, due to the accuracy of the research, only the experience of the boys is examined and it examines more precisely the relationships that the two parties communicate from a distance.
Due to the prevalence of long-distance online emotional relationships among teenagers and the difference between girls and boys in different cultures, it is necessary to investigate the inner world of boys and qualitative research in this field. The experience of emotional relationships is specific to each person's situation. ; Therefore, it is not possible to examine the various aspects of the problem with a little research. Qualitative research with an exploratory approach is felt to require in-depth interviews to understand the visible and hidden dimensions of long-distance emotional relationship challenges. Because social constructivists, unlike objectivists, believe that there is no objective reality and what exists is only the mental structure of people; Therefore, in the current research, it has been tried to examine the understanding of each teenager, who may be different from another, in terms of phenomenology. In phenomenology, one or more people's awareness and experience of a phenomenon is described by focusing on the unique characteristics of a person's experience. Therefore, the aim of the current research is to identify the challenges of emotional relationships at a distance by studying the inner world of teenagers, or in other words, their lived experience, through the lens of their perspective, and then reach a deep understanding of their mental meaning. The current research aims to enrich the existing knowledge and seeks to answer the question, what are the challenges of adolescent boys in long-distance online emotional relationships?
Research method and methodology
Given that teenagers have different experiences in their long-distance relationships, the present research was conducted using the phenomenological method in order to understand the phenomena through human experiences. The participants of this research were selected in the spring of 1403 from among teenagers living in the 11th district of Khairkhane region who had established an emotional relationship with the opposite sex in the
online space and whose parents were satisfied with the research,
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using a purpose-based sampling method. It continued until reaching saturation about the concept of the phenomenon under investigation; To the extent that with the increase in volume, the sample volume of information or new data was not impressive. The main criterion was that the person is still a teenager and has had an emotional relationship with an emotional partner of the opposite sex in the online space in the last year. Also, other criteria were applied for targeted sampling, since this study examines the experiences of long-distance relationships. This criterion was considered to be the distance between the person and his partner that is difficult to reach, and the exit criterion included the lack of satisfaction of participating in the research.
Saturation of information was achieved with 15 teenagers and the duration of the interviews varied from 20 to 35 minutes depending on the cooperation and cognitive ability of expressing people's experiences. Claisi was analyzed; This means that the interviews were written completely word for word and then the notes of the interviews were read several times and the important and key terms and concepts were identified and coded. After this stage, common concepts were grouped together and thematic groups of concepts were formed. Then, the results were linked to describe the phenomenon under study, the challenges of remote emotional relationships, and more general categories were formed, and the results were integrated with each other in the form of a complete description of the phenomena, validation by referring to each participant and questioning the accuracy of the findings and Bug fixes were made so that the results are error-free.
FINDING
The age range of the participants varies from 18 to 25 years and there is a different physical distance between them and their emotional partner, the closest distance is 50 km and the farthest is 900 km. They got to know each other and continued their relationship online, in which the minimum duration of the relationship is three months and the maximum duration is two years and ten months.
Table 1 : Demographic information of the participants
Number age city distance duration of
relationship (months/years)
of way of ip getting
kabul ô»
bamyan ôô
Online Online
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Parvan ÖY Online
Y» Parwan ar Online
rr kabul A. in person
rr Kapisa Online
n Kandahar A.. Online
u Wardak Online
M parwan a^ Online
M Logar in person
w Kapisa ^A Online
The findings were classified into three main themes (psychological challenges, challenges related to society and culture, and challenges related to social networks), as it is clear in the data coding table, the most important psychological challenges that adolescent boys face when experiencing relationships They had an emotional experience from a distance through social networks, including uncertainty, depression, loneliness, and guilt, and the cases related to "cultural difference with the other person and the reduction of social abilities in which the main social and cultural challenges were categorized and the challenges related to The online space contained two central codes of possible increase in the occurrence of errors and misinterpretations and deviations from reality, which will be described and explained more widely in the next part.
DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
The aim of the current research was to investigate the challenges of adolescent boys in online long-distance emotional relationships with the opposite sex, three of which were identified as "psychological challenges, challenges related to society and culture, and challenges related to social networks." The most important psychological challenges that adolescent boys had when experiencing long-distance emotional relationships through social networks included uncertainty, depression, feelings of loneliness, and guilt.
Undoubtedly, online relationships, especially when two people are far away and have fewer opportunities to meet face-to-face, can be very difficult to replace face-to-face relationships. They considered life separate, and it was rare that they had an empathetic person to understand their online relationships, as Witty and Buchanan (2016) pointed out the lack of understanding of the family and friends of most people who use the online space to create emotional relationships. This challenge was also prominent in the present study
Witty and Buchanan (2021), in a study that examined psychopathology and the use of online dating tools, found a
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positive relationship between depression symptoms and online friendships. In this study, the participants had incomplete satisfaction with their relationships and showed symptoms of depression. They showed symptoms of depression appear when a social network user reduces the amount of his online relationships. Uncertainty is undoubtedly one of the permanent defects of online relationships. In this research, the participants could not even be sure about the correctness of their partner's personality and gender, and in some cases it was difficult for them to be sure of the other person's loyalty and the correctness of what he said. As mentioned in Manta's (2010) research, about 80% of people lie at least in part of their dating tool profiles. This shows that it is very easy to lie in a dating profile because online dating services do not have any background checks or They do not verify the profile on users, and users can lie about weight, height, occupation, interests or anything. Often users lie on a small scale and change some of their information to appear more prominent and desirable. However, on the other hand, some users define an unreal identity for themselves.
Also, in most cases, teenagers felt guilty towards the person in front of them when they presented themselves falsely or declared unrealistic motives to form a relationship after establishing a sincere relationship in this relationship. At the same time, the common motivation and goal of people from a long-distance emotional relationship in order to form a family and a commitment based on trust and support is one of the positive things in long-distance relationships. This shows the lack of shared motivation and false presentation of motivation cause guilt in each of the parties. In addition to this issue, if a person tries to stay committed to his longdistance relationship and provide the necessary support to his emotional partner, he will feel lonely at the turning points of his life or when his friends go on a date. they become
Issues related to society and culture were effective on this issue from the two perspectives of cultural difference between an individual and his emotional partner and the reduction of social abilities, and social support can play an important role in the use of social networks. The higher a person's use of social networks, the lower his social abilities. use
Less social networks will increase social skills and receive interpersonal support. The existence of competence in communication skills has been considered as one of the effective factors in addiction to social networks. Also, considering that the geographical distance determines the cultural difference, the participants of this research had challenges in their emotional relationships with the cultural difference, and it was difficult for them to accept the customs of language and dialect differences along with religious contradictions. The
participants pointed to technical issues, which they did, which was
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in line with previous research; things like time delays in sending messages and files were observed. In an online platform, communication is not a complete communication, and two people cannot understand the tone of the other person's speech at the time of communication, and they do not have full access to his physical signs. He considers virtual networks to be useful for establishing communication but considers this usefulness only in situations where there is no other way. Although these may be resolved with the passage of time and the improvement of technology, their other challenges can only be solved in a deep and accepted healthy relationship. In short, in the environment of long-distance online emotional relationships, boys face challenges that require careful attention and
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