Social media addiction: Its impact, mediation, and intervention

Abstract

This research examined the relations of social media addiction to college students' mental health and academic performance, investigated the role of self-esteem as a mediator for the relations, and further tested the effectiveness of an intervention in reducing social media addiction and its potential adverse outcomes. In Study 1, we used a survey method with a sample of college students (N = 232) and found that social media addiction was negatively associated with the students' mental health and academic performance and that the relation between social media addiction and mental health was mediated by self-esteem. In Study 2, we developed and tested a two-stage self-help intervention program. We recruited a sample of college students (N = 38) who met criteria for social media addiction to receive the intervention. Results showed that the intervention was effective in reducing the students’ social media addiction and improving their mental health and academic efficiency. The current studies yielded original findings that contribute to the empirical database on social media addiction and that have important theoretical and practical implications.

The relationship between social media addiction and depression: a quantitative study among university students in Khost, Afghanistan

“…Many prior studies have explored the relationship of social media usage with the users' mental health problems (e.g. depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and self-esteem) among the various age group of people in developed countries (Glazzard & Stones, 2016;Hou et al, 2019;Savci, 2016;Shensa et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2018;Waqas et al, 2018). In the least developed countries such as Afghanistan, there is not enough relevant academic literature.…”

Social Networking (SNS) Addiction among University Students: A Literature Review and Research Directions

“…Although 78% of the reviewed previous studies have highlighted several potential negative correlations of extensive SNS usage and addiction on university student wellbeing, social and academic life, however, these studies gave more attention to the negative impact on students' academic performance. [3,11,18,28,32,34,57,66,77,79,93]. However, other studies found that SNS usage was beneficial for university student's academic and social life [12,15,22,93,97].…”

Does the Association of Social Media Use with Problematic Internet Behaviours Predict Undergraduate Students Academic Procrastination?

“…This shows that the more one is addicted online, the more one is likely to be victimized online. Several studies have demonstrated how Internet addiction could negatively impact the psychological well-being of a child (Hou, Xiong, Jiang, Song, & Wang, 2019). There is the likelihood that the more time one spends online the more likely they are to meet bullies online (BioMed Central, 2018).…”