Fulfilling social connections are crucial for human well-being and belonging, but not all relationships last forever. As interactions increasingly move online, the act of digitally severing a relationship - e.g. through blocking or unfriending - has become progressively more common as well. This study considers actions of "digital severance" through interviews with 30 participants with experience as the initiator and/or recipient of such situations. Through a critical interpretative lens, we explore how people perceive and interpret their severance experience and how the online setting of social media shapes these dynamics. We develop themes that position digital severance as being intertwined with power and control, and we highlight (im)balances between an individual's desires that can lead to feelings of disempowerment and ambiguous loss for both parties. We discuss the implications of our research, outlining three key tensions and four open questions regarding digital relationships, meaning-making, and design outcomes for future exploration.

翻译：满足社会联系对人类福祉和归属感至关重要，但并非所有关系都能永久持续。随着互动日益转向线上，通过数字方式断绝关系的行为——例如拉黑或解除好友关系——也变得越来越普遍。本研究通过对30名曾作为此类情境发起方和/或接收方的参与者进行访谈，考察了“数字断绝”行为。通过批判性解释视角，我们探讨了人们如何感知和解读其断绝经历，以及社交媒体的在线环境如何塑造这些动态。我们构建了若干主题，将数字断绝定位为与权力和控制相互交织的现象，并强调个体欲望之间的（非）平衡状态可能导致双方产生无力感和模糊性丧失感。我们讨论了本研究的启示，围绕数字关系、意义建构及未来探索的设计成果提出了三个关键张力点和四个开放性问题。