Digital intimacy describes the feeling of closeness, trust, or emotional connection that develops through online interactions, including text messages, voice notes, video calls, and ongoing chat relationships. It can form between friends, romantic partners, or users and the apps and platforms they spend time with.
As more social and romantic interaction moves online, the term has become useful for describing relationships that exist primarily through screens, whether with another person or a subscription-based service. Understanding the idea helps people think critically about what kind of connection a given app or platform is actually designed to produce.
Also called: online intimacy, virtual intimacy, parasocial intimacy, digital closeness, remote intimacy
