永恆聯繫，輕連結，強控制：手機愛情故事

Abstract

McLuhan說：「媒介即訊息」（The Medium is the Message），不同的媒介會塑造出不同的人際聯繫與活動形式。本研究想要討論的是，當手機已成為現代人最重要的通訊科技時，其科技特性會與「愛情關係」此一特定社會關係產生什麼樣的相互影響。也就是說，手機是否改變了情侶之間的溝通形式、內容與連結關係；手機在愛情裡又扮演著什麼樣的角色。 本研究以深度訪談為主，蒐集了近三十位男女受訪者歷來的愛情故事，從中觀察他們在愛情關係中如何使用手機或其他通訊科技進行溝通，最後歸結出兩大研究結果：首先，以手機為主的通訊科技織成的永恆聯繫之網塑造了一個能夠輕易取得聯繫的環境，使情侶之間出現了一種我稱之為「輕連結」的新聯繫形式。「輕連結」的主要特徵為：高頻率、細碎、簡短、無關緊要、隨時開始隨時結束的對話與文字訊息。其中，聯繫越發不再只是「傳遞訊息」，溝通內容不再是重點，「輕連結」更多的是要透過每一次的聯繫，來確認彼此仍然互相連結，讓彼此不斷處於「連結的關係」。然而，當每一次的聯繫也都可被視為一次對連結關係的「檢驗」，各種「不聯繫」所可能引發的爭執也就越來越成為情侶之間常見的衝突。 雖然在「輕連結」中不存在什麼相對於深刻的「對話」，但藉由「輕連結」建立起的卻不是鬆散的親密關係，手機反而使情侶們更加深刻地捲入彼此的「生活」，因此對伴侶、對愛情也有著前所未有的控制強度。當取得聯繫與地域脫離，並且不再需要經歷坎坷的等待、中介，我們比以往有更多機會能知曉伴侶的日常生活細節，除了即時的情緒、當下所需要的協助，以及有意無意地揭露、同步彼此的行蹤之外，透過時空連結以及手機的紀錄功能，情侶們還獲得了許多能夠瞭解伴侶的其他生活圈、交友圈的機會，而每一次的聯繫其實也都是一次雙方生活型態、當下情境脈絡的交織與揭露。現今的情侶對伴侶日常生活的細節有著前所未有的高度控制能力。

Marshall McLuhan uses the phrase “the medium is the message” to reveal that the usage of different media will lead to different modes of interpersonal connections and actions. This research attempts to explore the relationships between the characteristics of the mobile phone and romantic relationships when the mobile phone has been seen as the most important communicative technology. The core questions, then, are whether mobile phones have changed the ways of communication, the content and the type of contacts between couples, and what the role mobile phones play in romantic relationship is. Although profound, in-depth conversations may not exist in the “light tie”, the romantic relationship maintained by the “light tie” is not a loose relationship. Instead, via mobile phones, the lovers are thoroughly involved in each other’s life, and at the same time, they acquire the unprecedented ability of controlling their love and lovers. When people can get in touch almost anywhere without annoying waiting and mediations, they have more chances to know the details of daily life of their lovers, such as their immediate expressions of emotions, assistance needed at the moment. But besides disclosing and synchronizing their lovers’ traces intentionally or unintentionally, couples are also given more opportunities to grasp their social life and social network. Furthermore, every contact is also an interweaving and uncovering of each other’s lifestyle and the social setting s/he is in. Nowadays, with the mobile phone, couples are unprecedentedly capable of controlling the details of their lovers’ daily life.