Abstract
The most widely used social media such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook have changed the way we communicate with others especially amongst youth. It has been a major part of such activities in their lives. However, the most alarming situation is that youth are mostly students. It has been identified that those who spent more time online have evidenced more symptoms of depression. On that note, this study concerns to (i) identify the level of depression and (ii) to find out the relationship between social media and depression among them who are among undergraduate students. In order to retrieve the data, a set of questionnaire was distributed to 150 students of local university in Malaysia, that consists of three sections which are demographic information, Social Media Addiction Scale-Student Form (SMAS-SF) and Beck Depression Inventory 2nd Edition (BDI-II). There were two variables analyzed using Pearson correlation test. In short, the result showed that there is a correlation between social media and depression, r=0.199, n=150, p=<0.01. From this finding, it depicts that social media is significantly related and have positive relationship to depression among students involved. This study also provides such valuable information for counsellors and lecturers to identify students who have suffered depression and could help them to manage the problem. It also creates awareness among parents to be more alert with their children’s emotion.
Highlights
Social media has become a part of human’s everyday lives
Based on analysis on the information gained from the background questionnaire, it can be concluded that majority of the students used WhatsApp as their social media and the usage of the social media was 5-8 hours per day
Majority of the students used social media 5-8 hours per day, but there were still 2.7% students who engaged with social media for about 21 until 24 hours per day
Summary
Social media has become a part of human’s everyday lives. Malaysia is ranked among the highest users of social media in the Asia Pacific region (Goglobe, 2015). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of usergenerated content”. People can access all types of information in their hands through cell phones, iPads and other devices Social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc., has taken the technology world to a whole new level. These social media can serve as a positive phenomenon by being a good source of communication, it can serve as a negative effect on individuals’ mental health such as depression, losss of self control, social anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation and facilitate offensive behaviour such suicidal ideation (Berryman, Ferguson & Negy, 2018). This is due to when using the social media too frequently, the effects can make people feel increasingly unhappy and isolated in the long run which might lead to depression (Heffiner, 2016)
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