UNDER THE SAME ROOF, IN THE SAME BED, YET UNABLE TO BECOME WE The Formation, Maintenance, and Dissolution of Relational WE in the Digital Age: An Ontological–Sociological Model
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: As digital technologies become embedded in everyday life, the distinction between physical co-presence and relational connectedness requires renewed examination. Family members living in the same home, friends sitting at the same table, and partners sharing the same bed may remain physically close while becoming increasingly distant in terms of joint attention, reciprocal interaction, and shared experience. At the same time, digital technologies may facilitate new forms of solidarity and belonging across geographical distance. This article examines these transformations through I–WE Ontology, developing a distinction among spatial, institutional, and relational WE. Its principal aim is not to relabel the effects of digitalization on relationships but to propose a testable model of the formation, maintenance, transformation, and dissolution of relational WE. It introduces the concepts of Relational WE Erosion, Digital Attention Migration, Tactile–Emotional Feedback, Readaptation Cost to WE, and Asymmetric WE Experience. The proposed model is situated in relation to scholarship on collective intentionality, plural subjects, interaction rituals, technology-related interruptions of interpersonal interaction, and social connectedness. It also specifies measurable variables, research hypotheses, and potential falsification conditions for the formation and dissolution of relational WE. The possible effects of digital identity on family formation and reproductive choices are treated separately as an exploratory direction for future research rather than as a central empirical claim.
Author: Boko, Irfan
Language: English
Topic: Digital Media and Philosophy
Subfield: Computer Science Applications
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7224107281