Closeness Atoms: Towards more Personal Relatedness Technologies

Young adults in long-distance relationships often miss the presence of their loved ones. Technologically mediated awareness offers a potential remedy. While Human-Computer Interaction has introduced various concepts to support such connections, these are often limited by predefined input/output modalities and fixed interaction forms. This restricts personalization and can hinder user acceptance. To address these limitations, we propose a concept of a customizable toolbox of “Closeness Atoms”. We studied needs and requirements of young adults in long-distance relationships via an online survey (n=94), literature review (n=53) and semi-structured interviews (n=7). Our findings indicate a wish to share everyday moments, emotions, and activities, but lack personalized ways to express their unique forms of relatedness. Therefore our toolbox concept enables users to combine and configure modalities such as light, sound, and video to create individual relatedness experiences. This approach supports flexible, emotionally meaningful connections tailored to diverse personal and relational needs.