The Excessive Use of Social-Media Among College Students: The Role of Mindfulness

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the usage of social media increased exponentially. In the first coronavirus surge, social media engagement increased by 61% [1] and social media usage among college students doubled during the pandemic [2]. According to a recent report, an excessive mindless use of social media plays a critical role in negatively impacting mental health [1]. More than 30% of college students are identified as being depressed [3]. Due to these mental health concerns, problems related to social media addiction has become a critical issue especially in college students.

College-aged students are the most active online users and generally interact with 5 digital platforms [4] often sharing various images, content, and information on social media sites. Today’s advanced technological algorithms easily find and recommend information that fits perfectly to users’ interests and habits. According to recent reports, 90% of young adults use social media [6] and spend an average of three to four hours a day compared to the one or two hours spent per day before the COVID-19 pandemic [2]. Consequently, the rates of anxiety and depression among college students significantly increased [2]. The endless addictive content and excessive exposure to social media are predicted as being directly related to college students’ mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression [2,3].

Social media has become the main hub for entertainment, communication, and professional development among young adults [5]. However, concerns related to excessive use have been raised in connection with potential addictive behaviors to social media usage [6,7]. Previous research addressed severe consequences related to addiction such as mood modification (i.e., performing the behavior to relieve or reduce aversive emotional states), withdrawal (i.e., experiencing psychological and physical discomfort when the behavior is reduced or prohibited), and salience (i.e., preoccupation with the behavior) [6,8,9].Taken together, it is possible to assume that the excessive use of social media may develop behavioral addictions which possibly could cause critical physical and psychological problems.

Despite these potential issues in relation to social media addiction, little research has paid attention to the problems of excessive use of social media in college students and some possible factors that might mitigate its impact on additive behavior. This study is aimed to investigate the relationships among exposure to social media, social media addiction, and consequential mental health problems such as stress, anxiety, and depression in college students. The moderating role of mindfulness is incorporated to more deeply understand a convincing factor that possibly alleviates the impact of social media exposure on the addiction to social media.

College students’ social media usage

Alruwayshid M, et al. [30] referred to social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking” [30]. Social media sites are “virtual communities where users can create individual public profiles, interact with real-life friends, and meet other people based on shared interests” [10]. Previous research indicates that young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are the most predominant social media users and that social media becomes an integral part of their daily life [30].

Most college students are “digital natives.” In other words, they have never lived without the internet or social media [2]. The use of social media has become a regular daily routine to young adults [3]. To maintain social relationships, to navigate social anxiety, to pass time, and to be entertained are several reported reasons regarding young adults’ social media usage [3]. The use of social media has positive impacts among young adults such as social connectedness (Ryan et al., 2017) and social support [3]. However, positive effects closely depend on how they use the platforms [3,11]. According to several relevant literature, devoting substantial time on social media sites leads to social media addiction [12,13,] and young adults are more likely to have higher scores on social media addiction compared to older people [12]. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

H1: There will be a positive relationship between excessive use of social media and social media addiction.

People often use a social media site to engage with friends and others across the globe. However, social engagement through social media leads to the opposite effect. That is, people feel more disengaged, disconnected, and dissatisfied with themselves [1] and ultimately this leads to poor mental health consequences [3,14]. According to previous social media use literature, there is a noteworthy connection between significant amounts of screen time and depression and anxiety among young adults [3,15]. In a similar vein [16] addressed that spending significant time on social media can lead to depression. [30] examined significant factors that contribute to college students’ body dissatisfaction and found that simply the number of hours used for social media was the leading contributor. Therefore, the positive direct relationship between the excessive use of social media and mental health problems is proposed.

H2: There will be a positive relationship between excessive use of social media and mental health problems.

Social media addiction

In the social media and online video gaming context, [6] defined addiction as “being overly concerned online activities, driven by an uncontrollable motivation to perform the behavior, and devoting so much time and effort to it that it impairs other important life areas.” According to [17], social media addiction is an urge-driven disorder with a strong compulsive component. [5] indicated that social media addiction is closely associated with a lack of self-awareness and creates a form of disinhibited social media usage. In a clinical setting, if a patient cannot reduce social media use voluntarily and it interferes with the person’s social and work obligation and sleep, it is considered as behavioral addiction and the amount of time the person spend contributes to the addiction [3]. Additionally,[7] addressed that suffering distress if prohibited from using social media, using social media to reduce negative feelings, and attempting to control the use of social media without success are all related to additive use of social media. A great amount of previous research indicated direct associations between addictive behaviors and negative health issues such as decreased life satisfaction [18], negative emotion and stress [5], anxiety and depression [6,19].

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people’s mental health symptom level increased globally [20]. High exposure to social media is considered as a critical factor in increasing the levels of mental health [20]. According to [12], social media use leads to addictive behaviors and eventually worsens users’ normal life and decreases happiness and life satisfaction. Several research also indicated close connections between social media usage and low self-esteem, stress, depression, anxiety, substance misuse, and suicidality [21,2]. Depression is now a crucial issue for young adults [3]. According to the American College Health Association [31], of the college students who participated in a survey 32.3% indicated that they were diagnosed and received treatment in the last 12 months for anxiety, 23.4% for depression, and 23.9% for sleep difficulty. Previous social media use research emphasized that the symptoms of depression and anxiety are closely related to social media use [22] and the excessive use of social media among young adults is linked to both depression and anxiety [12,3]. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

H3: There will be a positive relationship between social media addiction and mental health problems.

Mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness has origins in Buddhism and is associated with the quality of consciousness for the enhancement of well-being [23]. In connection with the concept, Hanh [24] defined mindfulness as “keeping one’s consciousness alive to the present reality” [25]. In a similar vein, Brown, and Ryan [23] referred to it as “the state of being attentive to and aware of what is taking place in the present” [23]. Hong et al. [20] stated mindfulness as “being aware of one’s moment-to-moment experiences in a nonjudgmental and accepting manner” [26]. According to Brown and Ryan [23], mindfulness is understood based on two ideas: awareness and attention. Awareness is related to continually monitoring the inner and outer environment; attention is associated with a process of focusing conscious awareness. That is, mindfulness is to give an enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality (i.e., an intertwined view of the two ideas) [23].

According to mindfulness related research, high mindful people are more likely to disengage from negative events and better endure perceived stress on psychological symptoms compared to low mindful people [20]. Also, people in a mindful mode are likely to de-emphasize negative pertinent thoughts [28] and accept their feelings [27]. For these reasons, mindfulness has been considered as a protective factor in preventing psychological symptoms for the people who experienced stressful events [26]. Hong et al. [20] addressed that people who have high levels of mindfulness are less likely to experience high levels of anxiety and depression and more likely to untie themselves from negative events. Often the images, photos, and stories people share on social media sites are exaggerated and unrealistic and they become a major source of anxiety and stress [1]. People with high levels of mindfulness might be less additive to social media sites since they might be highly attentive to and sensitively aware of the negative effects of social media sites. Although little research has paid attention to mindfulness as a mitigating factor in connection with the negative effects of social media, it is possible to assume that people with low levels of mindfulness are more likely to experience high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in connection with social media use compared to those who have high levels of mindfulness. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed.

H4: Mindfulness will play a moderating role in the relationships between (a) excessive use of social media and social media addiction and (b) social media addiction and mental health problems. That is, the two relationships will be stronger for people with low levels of mindfulness, compared to people with high levels of mindfulness (Figure 1).

Participants and procedure

A convenience sample of college students was recruited at a large university in the southeastern United States. An email which included brief information about the survey, the estimated time for completing the survey, and the survey link was sent to the college students. Respondents were asked to click on the URL link to access the survey. A pretest was conducted to identify errors on the questionnaire and to determine the approximate time needed to complete the survey. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by an IRB of the university.

The scale used to measure excessive use of social media was from several social media studies [13,20]. The scale contained six items including the frequency of visiting and the amount of time spent on social media sites daily. Social media addiction was measured using 6 items developed by Andreassen et al. [12]. The scale contains items such as “How often during the last 6 months have you felt an urge to use social media more and more?” and “How often during the last 6 months have you tried to cut down on the use of social media without success?.” Mental health problems were assessed using the 21-item version of depression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS) [29]. The original version ranged from 0 (did not apply to me at all) to 3 (applied to me very much or most of the time). However, the response range was modified and measured on a 5-point Likert scale for the current study to be consistent with the other scales employed. Mindfulness was measured using the scale developed by Brown and Ryan [23]. The measure contained 15 items and used a 5-point Likert scale. Acceptable reliabilities (Cronbach’s alphas greater than .70) were reported for all the employed measures. Also, to assess college students’ social media usage and habits, the social media sites they visit or belong to, the frequency of visit, and fundamental purposes of using social media sites were additionally asked. Finally, participants provided demographic information such as age, gender, and education level.

Sample

A total of 59 college students who use social media sites participated in the online survey. Six students who provided a limited number of answers were eliminated from the main data analysis. As a result, a total of 53 usable respondents were included for the main data analysis. Approximately, 82.9% were females and 17.1% were males with an age range of 18 to 22 (M = 20.23, SC = 1.09). The student sample consisted of approximately 37% juniors, 31% sophomores, 23% seniors, and 9% freshmen. The most popular social media site that the respondents belong to was Instagram (92.5%), followed by Snapchat (90.6%), and TikTok (83%). Most of the students used social media sites for entertainment (86.8%), socializing with people (75.5%), and sharing experiences (49.1%) (Figure 2). Most of the respondents (71.7%) check social media sites more than 4 times a day. Approximately 40% reported that they spend 2-4 hours on social media sites daily and 24.5% spend 4-6 hours (Figure 3).

Descriptive statistics

Data was analyzed using SPSS 28.0 version. Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, and correlation coefficients are reported in Table 1. A p value of < .05 was considered statistically significant.

Table 1: Means, SDs, and correlations (n=53).

Hypotheses testing

potheses. Results of the analyses revealed that the relationship between excessive use of social media and social media addiction (F = 5.029, β = .30, p = 0.029, t = 2.243) and between social media addiction and depression, anxiety, and stress (F = 6.012, β = .33, p = .018, t = 2.452) were all significant. However, the relationship between excessive use of social media and depression, anxiety, and stress was not statistically significant. Therefore, H1 and H3 were supported but not H2. The results of the regression analyses are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: A Summary of hypotheses testing.

To further test the effect of mindfulness on the relationships between (30) excessive use of social media and social media addiction and (31) excessive use of social media and mental health problems, the sample was divided into two groups based on a median score: high mindfulness group (n = 31, 58.5%) and low mindfulness group (n = 22, 41.5%). A series of simple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships for each group. For the high mindfulness group, the relationship was not significant. However, for the low mindfulness group, excessive use of social media had a significant positive effect on social media addiction (F = 7.258, β =0.52, p = .014, t = 2.694). That is, when the level of mindfulness was low, the relationship between excessive use of social media and social media addiction was statistically significant, while such effect was not observed in the high mindfulness group. To visibly explain the analyses results for the relationship between excessive use of social media and social media addiction for the high and low mindfulness groups, a simple scatterplot slope is provided (Figure 4).

The relationship between excessive use of social media and mental health problems was not significant for both high and low mindfulness groups. Thus, H4 was partially supported (Table 2).

This study examined if excessive use of social media could possibly relate to the additive behavior of social usage and ultimately mental problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress. As shown in Tables 1 and 2, the correlations between excessive use of social media and social media addiction and between social media addiction and mental health problems were all positive and significant, and the results of regression analyses clearly explain the severe problems of mental issues in connection with excessive use of social media and social media addiction.

In this study, the amount of time spent on social media sites did not have a significant direct effect on college students’ mental health problems. However, the findings of this study show that the more time spent on social media, the greater likelihood of having social media addiction behavior and that the behavior leads to depression, anxiety, and stress. A recent Penn Medicine News report [1] addressed an important way of avoiding the negative impact of social media. The report emphasized reducing the time spent on social media by taking a day off from social media or turning a phone off during dinner. College students need to be aware of the suggestions and write down how much time they spend on social media sites each time they visit and carefully regulate their addictive behavior. Previous research recommended that to set one specific time of day to check social media sites and to turn off notifications can also lower problematic social media use [3,32].

In today’s technology driven world, to live without connecting to social media has become intolerable, especially among young adults. Social media has turned into vital communication and entertainment tools. Even retailers and schools use social media sites for marketing, public relations, and customer service [17]. Thus, the key issue that needs to be considered seems to be how to avoid it becoming addictive. The current research showed the critical role of mindfulness in the relationship between excessive use of social media and social media addiction. Compared to the respondents who had high levels of mindfulness, the effect of the excessive use of social media on social media addiction was considerably significant to those who had low levels of mindfulness. Mindfulness is a self-regulation activity which can be cultivated by practice [22]. A positive message from previous mindfulness research is that mindfulness does not require specific techniques [32]. It can be cultivated by various mindfulness techniques such as meditation [25], and the consistent practice of mindfulness techniques can boost people’ levels of mindfulness [34]. Being attentive to and aware of what is happening without prejudice is also a part of mindfulness practice. Therefore, by effectively and constantly practicing mindfulness and being well-aware of and paying close attention to their social media usage, college students can regulate their addictive behaviors on social media sites and improve mental health problems. According to Aslan and Yasar [35], mental health including depression and anxiety can be affected by lack of real social support. College students often use social media sites to reduce their loneliness and make connections with others. Regular in-person social support from parents, caregivers, and friends would also be important to prevent them from developing negative mental health problems.

According to previous research, social media use can negatively lead to mental health if it is used to release loneliness and to compare life experience and achievements with others [3,36]. In this study, how the vital desires of using social media among college students contribute to their problematic mental health was not examined. To completely understand the connection between social media use and mental health issues among college students, their fundamental needs of using social media need to be further investigated in association with addictive behavior and negative mental health problems. Also, in the current study, mental health problems were examined as consequences of social media addiction. According to some research, people suffering from depression are likely to use social media excessively [7]. Those people might use social media as a way of reducing their negative feelings. More thorough research is needed to completely understand the causing factors of social media addiction and its consequences.

None.

No Conflict of interest.

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