The pervasiveness of social media in adolescents’ lives has important implications for their relationships. Considering today’s adolescents have grown up with social media, research capturing their unique perspectives of how social media impacts their relationships is needed to increase understanding and help guide behaviors that nurture social-connectedness. Utilizing multiple qualitative methods, this study explores adolescents’ perspectives of how their social media use impacts their relationships. The sample comprised 36, Year 9 students aged 15 years from four metropolitan schools in Melbourne, Australia. All participants completed a rich picture mapping activity and focus group discussions. To gain deeper understandings, a sub-sample of 11 adolescents participated in subsequent one-on-one interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis generated two overarching themes (1) developing and strengthening relationships and (2) diminishing relationships. Sub-themes included; making new friends, maintaining relationships, deepening connections, enhancing belonging, rifts and strains, and anti-social behavior. Findings revealed nuanced insights into “how” and “why” adolescents believe social media impacts relationships. Adolescents explained that social media transforms interactions through amplifying and intensifying relational experiences resulting in both beneficial and detrimental outcomes for their relationships. Cultivating the positive aspects of adolescents’ social media use whilst mitigating the negative is important toward supporting relatedness and fostering wellbeing.

社交媒体在青少年生活中的普遍性对他们的人际关系有着重要的影响。考虑到当今的青少年是在社交媒体中长大的，因此需要研究捕捉他们对社交媒体如何影响他们的关系的独特观点，以增进理解并帮助指导培养社交联系的行为。本研究利用多种定性方法，探讨青少年对社交媒体使用如何影响他们的人际关系的看法。样本包括来自澳大利亚墨尔本四所城市学校的 36 名 15 岁的 9 年级学生。所有参与者完成了丰富的图片映射活动和焦点小组讨论。为了获得更深入的了解，11 名青少年的子样本参加了随后的一对一访谈。自反主题分析产生了两个总体主题（1）发展和加强关系和（2）减少关系。包括子主题；结交新朋友、维持关系、加深联系、增强归属感、裂痕和压力以及反社会行为。调查结果揭示了对青少年“如何”和“为什么”相信社交媒体影响人际关系的细微洞察。青少年解释说，社交媒体通过放大和强化关系体验来改变互动，从而对他们的关系产生有益和有害的结果。培养青少年使用社交媒体的积极方面，同时减少消极方面，对于支持相关性和促进幸福感很重要。