The effect of social media usage on the mental well-being of medical college students in Bangalore, Karnataka

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Social media offers a platform for its users to share information and spread awareness regarding various issues including mental health problems. In some previous studies it was found that people suffering from mental health issues benefited from social media. However, the use of social media is also significantly associated with increased depression, mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents. Furthermore, it was found that the prevalence of poor mental health was high in medical students. With this background, this study was taken up to contribute to the scarce literature about the impact social media has on the mental well-being of medical students. Methods: The setting was a medical college and research centre, situated in the metropolitan city of Bengaluru in Karnataka. A pretested and predesigned questionnaire was self-administered anonymously by 318 students. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistics. Results: A statistically significant relationship was found between the amount of time spent on social media and the mental well-being score, according to the Sell and Nagpal scale, of students. In participants with scores of < 90.8, (30.2%) of them used social media for 4 hrs or more, as opposed to those with scores ≥ to 90.8, (35.6%) of them spent between 1 and 2 hrs a day on social media, 90.8 being the mean well-being score in India. Conclusions: Students need to monitor their screen time. There is a need to go back to old times of establishing human connections and, families and friendships should be nurtured.

Impact of Social Media Websites Overuse on Mental Well Being of Medical Students

“…These results are consistent with the study conducted in India, on medical students, in 2019 13 . In that study, it was found that the medical students with poor mental health (mental well being score <90.8) used to spend moderate amount of time on social media i.e., between 1 to 4 hours per day.…”

“…It is very challenging for medical students to keep the balance of their social, personal and academic lives. 13 Although social media websites provide entertainment but still it has been found in the previous studies that social media is associated with anxiety and depression issues in medical students 14,15 . This negative impact of social media on mental health of medical students has been related to the increased screen time of the medical students on social media websites [16][17][18] .…”

The relationship between behavioral problems and screen time in children during COVID-19 school closures in Japan

“…Research suggests that educational efficacy in remote learning systems is higher with interactive communication than one way communication ( 34 ). This may indicate the need to nurture human connection—families and friends—even in screen media usage for mental health ( 35 ), especially among children. Therefore, our study highlights the importance of precisely how children interact with screen media during long school closures, such as summer vacations and COVID-19 quarantine.…”

Impact of Use of Social Media on Adolescent's Mental Health in a Tier 2 City—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This subject lacks extensive evidence from developing world and largely the evidence is from tier 1 cities. 4,20,21 Therefore, the association of mental health problems with social media use still needs to be ascertained. Moreover, more structured and randomized studies in future can throw more light on this issue.…”

“…2 Much has been investigated about the impact of social media on adolescents' mental health in Western countries and metropolitan cities, while its impact in tier 2 and tier 3 cities remains uninvestigated. 4 This prompted us to evaluate the impact of social media on adolescents' mental health in a cohort of school students in a tier 2 city.…”