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The use of social media has grown exponentially to the extent of engaging close to one third of the world’s population as of January 2016. Actually, social media statistics have been reporting an average annual increase of 10% in total number of users. These extremely impressive statistics have been triggering researchers’ interest in investigating this phenomenon and its impact on every aspect of users’ lives. Our study is an attempt to contribute to the knowledge that is building up in relation to this phenomenon by examining the relationships between the addictive use of social media, self-esteem, and satisfaction with life. To achieve this purpose, a generic questionnaire, the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ), was used stemming from the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire. Respondents completed an online survey questionnaire which collected demographic information and responses to SMAQ, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. In addition to assessing SMAQ’s psychometric properties, data analyses included Pearson correlations between the variables, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results showed that a one-factor model of SMAQ had good psychometric properties and had high internal consistency. As for relations, addictive use of social media had a negative association with self-esteem, and the latter had a positive association with satisfaction with life. Furthermore, path analysis showed that self-esteem mediated the effect of social media addiction on satisfaction with life.

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Background and aimsThe latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders included Internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a disorder that needs further research among different general populations. In line with this recommendation, the primary objective of this was to explore the relationships between IGD, sleep habits, and academic achievement in Lebanese adolescents.MethodsLebanese high-school students (N = 524, 47.9% males) participated in a paper survey that included the Internet Gaming Disorder Test and demographic information. The sample’s mean average age was 16.2 years (SD = 1.0).ResultsThe pooled prevalence of IGD was 9.2% in the sample. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that IGD was associated with being younger, lesser sleep, and lower academic achievement. While more casual online gamers also played offline, all the gamers with IGD reported playing online only. Those with IGD slept significantly less hours per night (5 hr) compared with casual online gamers (7 hr). The school grade average of gamers with IGD was the lowest among all groups of gamers, and below the passing school grade average.ConclusionsThese findings shed light on sleep disturbances and poor academic achievement in relation to Lebanese adolescents identified with IGD. Students who are not performing well at schools should be monitored for their IGD when assessing the different factors behind their low academic performance.

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