This essay uses grounded theory to analyze interviews with a dozen people who media marathoned while going through a health struggle. Three prominent relationship-focused themes emerged from the analysis: (1) Interviewees experienced “parasocial encouragement,” drawing inspiration from characters’ perseverance; (2) interviewees often marathoned stories recommended by family or friends, which led to conversations about the stories; and (3) interviewees struggling with depression or anxiety were able to learn more about human relationships through media and to use media engagement experiences as springboards for communication. In sum, through the cultivation of social support and social capital, media marathoning experiences helped study participants buildup and draw from a meaningful social reservoir in their time of enhanced need for connection. The social reservoir metaphor captures media marathoning’s embeddedness in a rich social environment of real and fictive others, with relationships that can both precede and live on beyond the media engagement experience.

中文翻译：

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媒体马拉松通过健康斗争：填补社会蓄水池

这篇文章使用扎根理论来分析对十几位媒体马拉松式同时经历健康斗争的人的采访。分析中出现了三个突出的以关系为中心的主题：（1）受访者经历了“准社会鼓励”，从角色的毅力中汲取灵感；(2) 受访者经常将家人或朋友推荐的故事进行马拉松，从而引发有关故事的对话；(3) 与抑郁或焦虑作斗争的受访者能够通过媒体更多地了解人际关系，并将媒体参与体验作为交流的跳板。总之，通过培养社会支持和社会资本，媒体马拉松体验帮助研究参与者在他们需要加强联系的时期建立和汲取有意义的社会资源。