The impact of social media and smartphone addiction on the quality of interpersonal relationships among university students

Abstract

The research examined how social media along with smartphone addiction affects university student relationships. Data collection employed semi-structured interview methodology while thematic analysis served as the method of data evaluation. The analysis included five individuals made up of five females who participated by purposive sampling methods. Detailed interviews were conducted with all participants following the acquisition of informed consent. The qualitative themes are: emotionally detached social media conversations, communication gaps in family relationships through social media, online communication increases misunderstandings, offline reconciliation is better than online reconciliation, social media destroys the authenticity of in-real-life moments, curated identities: concealing the true self in social media, lack of nonverbal cues in social media: loss of facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures, daily use of social media – average of 5 hrs, difficulties with reducing the number of social media use, heightened relational value by way of online presence. Research results demonstrate how digital media use affects relationship patterns despite revealing the necessity to find proper technology usage balance to preserve wholesome communication habits.