Digital Possessions After a Romantic Break Up

With technology becoming more pervasive in everyday life, it is common for individuals to use digital media to support the enactment and maintenance of romantic relationships. Partners in a relationship may create digital possessions frequently. However, after a relationship ends, individuals typically seek to disconnect from their ex-partner. This becomes difficult due to the partners’ interwoven digital presence in the collection of digital possessions. In this paper, we report on a qualitative study exploring individuals’ experiences of relationship break up in a digital context, and discuss their attitudes towards digital possessions from those relationships. Five main themes emerged from our results: digital possessions that sustain relationships, comparing before and after, tainted digital possessions, digital possessions and invasions of privacy, and involved and emotional reminiscing. Opportunities for design were identified in managing attitudes towards digital possessions, disconnecting and reconnecting, and encouraging awareness of digital possessions.