Impact of Social Media on Students’ Mental Health at University Level
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-iv.317Keywords:
Social Media, Mental Health, University Students, Social Anxiety, Depression, Stress, Self-EsteemAbstract
This research examines the impact of social media on the mental health and psychological well-being of university students. Being the part and parcel of the daily routine of the university students due to their wide-spread use on the social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and WhatsApp, social media is considered to have a detrimental effect on their mental health in terms of creating anxiety, depression, stress, and low self-esteem. The purposes of this study included the examination of social media use patterns among the university students; identification of both positive and negative consequences on mental well-being; and finding out the correlation between social media use and students' psychological well-being. The research adopted the descriptive research methodology and data were gathered through questionnaires and interviews. Simple random sampling technique was used to collect data from 310 university students enrolled at six universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for the academic year 2025-2026. The gathered data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and regression analysis using SPSS. The results indicated that 58.4% of respondents used social media for more than five hours per day, 25.8% for three to five hours, and 15.8% for one to three hours. The study concludes that the effects of social media on students' mental health are both positive and negative, depending on the duration and purpose of use.
References
Andreassen, C. S., Pallesen, S., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 287–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.03.006
Ellison, N. B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of computer‐mediated communication, 12(4), 1143–1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x
Godard, R., De France, K., Ng, Z. J., & Hoffmann, J. D. (2026). Adolescent technology use and affective well-being: Taking a more nuanced look. Current Psychology, 45(4), 385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08977-4
Greenhow, C., & Robelia, B. (2009). Old communication, new literacies: Social network sites as social learning resources. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1130–1161. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01484.x
Hunt, J., & Eisenberg, D. (2010). Mental health problems and help-seeking behavior among college students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.08.008
Kowalski, R. M., Giumetti, G. W., Schroeder, A. N., & Lattanner, M. R. (2014). Bullying in the digital age: A critical review and meta-analysis of cyberbullying research among youth. Psychological Bulletin, 140(4), 1073–1137. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035618
Kwak, H., Lee, C., Park, H., & Moon, S. (2010). What is Twitter, a social network or a news media? In Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web (pp. 591–600). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1772690.1772751
Landa-Blanco, M., Reyes García, Y., Landa-Blanco, A. L., Cortés Ramos, A., & Paz-Maldonado, E. (2024). Social media addiction relationship with academic engagement in university students: The mediator role of self-esteem, depression, and anxiety. Heliyon, 10(2), e24384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24384
Levenson, J. C., Shensa, A., Sidani, J. E., Colditz, J. B., & Primack, B. A. (2016). The association between social media use and sleep disturbance among young adults. Preventive Medicine, 85, 36–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.01.001
Li, Y., Shi, J., Luo, B., Xiong, A., Xiong, S., Wang, J., & Liao, S. (2025). Internet addiction and depressive symptoms in university students: Latent profiles, network structure, and symptomatic pathways to suicide risk. Depression and Anxiety, 2025(1), 4591408. https://doi.org/10.1155/da/4591408
Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 25(2), 113–122. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796015001067
Nikolaou, I. (2014). Social networking web sites in job search and employee recruitment. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 22(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12067
Osman, W. A. (2025). Social media use and associated mental health indicators among University students: a cross-sectional study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 9534. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-94355-w
Pantic, I. (2014). Online social networking and mental health. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(10), 652–657. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0070
Piwek, L., & Joinson, A. N. (2016). “What do they Snapchat about?” Patterns of use in time-limited instant messaging service. Computers in Human Behavior, 54, 358–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.08.026
Qamar, A., & Ali, I. (2026). Use of Instagram and its effect on the mental well-being of university students: A perspective from Pakistan. PLOS Global Public Health, 6(4), e0005529-e0005529.
Sheldon, P., & Bryant, K. (2016). Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.059
Stallman, H. M. (2010). Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population data. Australian Psychologist, 45(4), 249–257. https://doi.org/10.1080/00050067.2010.482109
Tess, P. A. (2013). The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual): A literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), A60–A68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.032
Verduyn, P., Ybarra, O., Résibois, M., Jonides, J., & Kross, E. (2017). Do social network sites enhance or undermine subjective well-being? A critical review. Social Issues and Policy Review, 11(1), 274–302. https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12033
Vogel, E. A., Rose, J. P., Roberts, L. R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), 206–222. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047
Yang, S., & Srinivasan, P. (2016). Life satisfaction and social media behavior: Analysis of Twitter data. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 6, 33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-016-0335-0
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Saba Kiran, Dr. Qaisara Parveen, Dr. Imran Yousuf, Dr. Mazhar Hussain Bhutta
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
