The Development Process and Experiences of Online Interpersonal Relationships among College Students

This study intends to suggest a way to help college students build healthy interpersonal relationships in online space by looking at the online interpersonal development process and what they experience in the process. To this end, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 college students who have been in a relationship for more than six months online and analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method. As a result, the participants of this study began to establish relationships through games and social networking services (SNS), and began to communicate naturally by adding friends or sharing the same interests in the game. Participants gradually formed an inner intimacy by self-opening with those they met online but shared more daily life by sharing personal contact information or favorite activities together. As the number of times met while feeling inner intimacy increased, they became close and special to each other. Participants gained confidence through online relationships and expanded their relationships by meeting various people non-face-to-face. Because it was non-face-to-face, I was able to treat the other relationships more comfortably, by listening to each other, asking for advice, and experiencing growth and development together. This study suggests that being online is a place for active relationship formation for college students.