Technological Consumption and Romantic Bond Precarization in University

Abstract

Technological consumption has transformed the ways in which university students experience socialization, intimacy, and romantic bonds, shaping new forms of presence, communication, validation, and waiting. This essay addresses the fragilization of young romantic bonds from a theoretical-critical perspective, aiming to analyze how digital culture may influence emotional regulation, tolerance for frustration, conflict management, and the projection of stable relationships. The reflection is based on a narrative review of contributions from sociology, psychology, digital culture studies, and recent evidence from the Chilean context. It articulates categories such as commensality, connected solitude, liquid love, affective markets, phubbing, ghosting, and digital micro-anxiety. The analysis suggests that screens operate not only as communicative mediations, but also as cultural devices that reconfigure intimacy, promoting bonds marked by immediacy, surveillance, social comparison, conflict avoidance, and affective precariousness. The essay proposes an interpretive hypothesis linking these transformations to life projects, couple formation, and reproductive intention among university students. It offers a theoretical contribution to understanding contemporary affective challenges and highlights the need to strengthen relational literacy, affective education, and critical reflection on digital culture in higher education.