SUGAR-FREE LOVE IN THE CONTEXT OF MEDIATED EXISTENCE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MEDIA FACTORS BEHIND THE FORMATION OF CRUSH-BASED ROMANTIC IDEALS

In the context of China’s declining population growth, the accelerating trends of lower birth rates and delayed marriages, the transformation of information dissemination and social interaction modes brought about by mediated existence has reshaped the public’s concept of love. On social media platforms, crush-style love has garnered significant attention and intense discussion among young people. This instant emotional experience has become an electronic substitute for real romantic relationships, fulfilling individuals' romantic fantasies without requiring significant effort or exposing them to risk. The characteristics of crush-based love are frequency, one-sidedness, ephemerality, and illusion, typically based on specific contexts and idealized personas. Its emergence and popularity are fundamentally due to the acceleration of time and the erosion of patience, the flow of emotions and absence of genuine presence, and the alienation of values and the raising of emotional thresholds brought about by mediated existence.