ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES DUE TO SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH ACADEMIC GRADES

Abstract

The sole purpose of this research was to assess the psychosocial issues arising due to social media addiction among the university students. In this regard, psychological distress, loneliness, cyber bullying and academic grades of the students was the core variables to be explored in this study. This was a quantitative research therefore; the data was collected by applying the valid and reliable scales in appropriateness with the study variables. The data was collected by using online survey. The responses from the sample were analyzed by using SPSS. The results revealed that the level of psychological distress was higher among the overall university students. The findings reported that 46% students were suffering from severe level of distress. Similarly, the level of cyber bullying, loneliness and internet addiction were also sever among the students i. e. 37%, 42% & 13% respectively. The gender wise comparison showed that the level of distress was higher among female students as compared with male students. Furthermore, the level of loneliness, cyber bullying and internet addiction was higher among male university students. Lastly, the academic grades of the students were correlated with the loneliness, cyber bullying and social media addiction. On the basis of the findings it concluded that the social media addiction is a silent killer and should be address in order to reduce the psychosocial issues among students. Keywords: Psychological distress, Loneliness, Cyber Bullying, Social media addiction.