Social Media Addiction Among Indian Young Adults During COVID-19

Abstract

Purpose: The study aims at understanding the prevalence and the paramount significance of the abuse of social media and its’ addiction during the present COVID-19. It also aims at understanding how accustomed or habituated people are, in terms of social media use. Methodology: A survey was conducted on 204 young adults in India using the shortened version of Social media Addiction Survey (Sahin, 2018). Reliability and Validity Tests were conducted along with One Sample t-test to understand the effect that each item had on the use of social media among the participants. Findings: Internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient) is 0.896, andinter-item validity is significant at 0.01 level, i.e. at a 99% confidence interval. The majority of the participants are eager to use social media and be informed about the content shared by their respective groups. Most participants also tend to spend more time on social media when they are alone. Study Implications: The paper suggests that the shortened version of the Social Media Addiction Scale is applicable for different populations irrespective of their age group and cultural backgrounds. However, further research indicated in the domain and field of social media in terms of addiction among more young adults is recommended.