Social Media Usage and it's Relationship with Depression among Nursing Students of a Private University

Abstract

Social media is a group of electronic and digital appliances which has its basis on internet and allow sharing, transforming and exchanging ideas, information, educational material and content. In the 21st century, internet usage has been increased significantly. Our life has been entirely changed by the internet and social media. Social media cause different health related issues and academic decline among students. Objective: To observe the relationship between social media use and depression among nursing students. Methods: Cross-sectional analytical study was performed on 120 nursing students. Ethical permission was obtained from Ethical Review Committee, Sohail University, Karachi. Descriptive statistics was performed on demographic variables. Pearson Correlation test was performed to check the relationship between social media use and depression. Results: Beyond 120 participants, males were in majority (57.5%). Mostly (58.3%) participants were in their 1st and 2nd year, 20.8% were married and 69.2% were living with their friends. Largely (77.5%) belong to Generic BSN program and 55.0% partakers were using social media from 0-4 hours per day. Mostly (44.2%) participant have moderate to extreme level of depression. We found positive correlation of social media use with depression. Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest significant correlation between depression and social media use. Spending more time on using social media can lead to depression. Therefore, policy makers should pay attention in planning to minimize the harmful effects of social media usage among students.