Digital media has played a historical role in orienting LGBTQ+ young people’s notions of ‘community’ around performances of identity and selfhood. In our research with LGBTQ+ dating app users aged 18–35, ‘queer community’ materialised in relation to participants’ expectations of ethical alignment with others, with an emphasis on performing a reflexive self who was clear and consistent in what they sought on apps. Participants described apps as providing access to community, or enhancing existing connections forged via other social media or in-person contexts. In ways that both cohered with and diverged from historical framings of ‘queer community’, the concept emerged as a shared understanding of ethical conduct, where emotional safety and connecting with ‘nice people’ were prioritised. App users acknowledged the challenges of navigating the constraints and possibilities of dating app cultures and infrastructures, alongside negotiating one’s political responsibilities to ‘queer community’.

数字媒体在引导LGBTQ +年轻人的“社区”概念围绕身份和自我表现方面发挥了历史性作用。在我们针对年龄在18至35岁之间的LGBTQ +约会应用程序用户的研究中，与参与者对与他人进行道德合规的期望相关的“同性恋社区”得以实现，并着重于表现出反身的自我，他们对应用程序的追求清晰且一致。参与者将应用程序描述为提供对社区的访问，或增强了通过其他社交媒体或面对面环境建立的现有连接。通过既与“酷儿社区”的历史框架相吻合又有所不同的方式，该概念作为对道德行为的共同理解而出现，其中优先考虑情感安全和与“好人”的联系。