Media Multiplexity in Meaningful Social Interaction Among Young Adults: Communication Patterns in Peer Relationships and Maintenance of Close Friendships

In today’s media landscape, young people can use many forms of multimedia communication to engage with others and maintain their interpersonal relationships. This study, grounded in Media Multiplexity Theory (MMT), investigates communication patterns in everyday meaningful social interactions in peer relationships within a university community and their impact on the maintenance of close friendships. Using experience sampling and social network data from an intensive longitudinal field study (N = 1,423 young adults; 27,644 observations reporting on 10,147 peer relationships), we found that young adults used more channels during meaningful interactions within relationships characterized as strong ties (e.g., close friends, friends, romantic partners). Moreover, young adults tended to have meaningful interactions with strong ties via phone calls or direct messages, but had such interactions with weak ties via in-person conversation or video calls. Among the peers identified as closest friends, the odds of the friendship being maintained the next academic quarter were higher for those who used more channels during meaningful interactions, while preferences for specific channels were unrelated to maintenance. Overall, the findings support and extend the propositions of MMT by examining multimedia channel use during high-quality interactions within a variety of peer relationships. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding how young people engage in meaningful connections with their peers.