Impact of Social Media Usage on Students’ Mental Health and Overall Well-Being of University Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The function of social media was substantial and its advancement had impacted different spheres of people’s lives, the leading change being in terms of cognitive processes and corresponding daily routines, interpersonal communication, knowledge acquisition, self-identification, and ways of perceiving environment. This study investigated the link between social media usage and the mental health and well-being of university students. Study included variables of social media usage, stress level, constant thinking, self- esteem, sleep schedule, emotional well-being, and daily routine.  The main motive of the study was to examine the effect of digital media on student's mental health and well-being of undergraduate’s university students and to explore the demographic differences like gender on the influence of social media usage on the mental health and well-being of university undergraduate students through survey research method. The research methodology was used in this study quantitative and descriptive type nature research. The data were collected from 250 students from the undergraduates’ students of University of Sargodha through Convenient sampling technique. The research instrument for this study was self-developed by the researcher. In this present study independent sample T-Test was used to check the demographic difference and Pearson Correlation was used for checking the link between social media and mental health. Study revealed a significant positive relationship between social media usage and mental well-being indicating that expanded social media usage was associated with improved mental well-being. In this study no notable gender gap were discovered in the relationship between social media usage and mental health outcomes. Findings suggested that social media usage may had a beneficial impact on mental well-being among university students.