The Impact of Social Media Dependency on Chinese Netizens' Willingness to Forward Health Rumors: The Moderating Role of Social Media Literacy

Roughly, Social Media Literacy (SML) can be defined as a particular set of practical, intellectual and emotional abilities required for social media users in order to create contents or to detect fake news posts (Robin Mansell, 2015). Thus, this research goes beyond the understanding of SML in a context of pandemic crisis to explore the use of social media by confined people during the COVID-19 outbreak. Actually, the exponential and gradual evolution of fake news and its extensive swindle to democracy, informational reliability and the public’s media trustworthiness has increased the necessity for undertaking academic researches about fake news (Zhou and Zafarani, 2018). In this perspective, this study focuses on a corpus of 186 people (essentially youth) acceded via online survey process, helping to collect data from very active social media contents consumers. Besides of the online questionnaire, remote interviews have been realised with digital professionals in order to get their experiences, knowledge and opinions about the research topic. Consequently, while attempting to comprehend the degree of proliferation of fake news in a context of epidemic crisis, this research investigates meanwhile people’s social media dependence during their confinements. In point of fact, in a context of global crisis socioemotional and psychological factors play a significant starring role in the propagation of fake news; facilitating de facto its considerable spread via social media platforms. For instance, the study proves that stressful quarantined people adopt irrational spontaneous reactions in sharing false information without paying much attention about their accuracy. Therefore, through a theoretical framework, a conceptual and analytical approach, combined with a scientific methodological enquiry and a rigorous investigation, this study attains to demonstrate people’s degree of fake news consumption via social media platforms, their level of social media appropriation, their principal motivations for social media use during Coronavirus lockdown.

The integration of social media into religious practices exhibits a complex dichotomy. On one side, social media is primarily driven by the principles of virality, popular appeal, and commercial interests. Conversely, religious traditions emphasize silence, peace, and tranquillity. Initially, social media served as a communication medium and enhanced religious knowledge within communities. However, its use has evolved towards cultivating personal and collective identities. The passion to increase religious knowledge and gain religious experience is disrupted by the desire for artificial physical appearances shared in social media groups. This research aims to describe and analyze the use of social media among recitation women in Tangerang, Banten. This research utilized observation, interviews, and intertextuality as data collection and analysis techniques. This study indicates that the engagement of recitation women with social media necessitates religious and social media literacy. A lack of proficiency in these areas could adversely affect the quality of social media interactions, as social media platforms are inherently non-neutral and are influenced by particular ideologies and interests. Consequently, recitation women must adopt a discerning and critical approach to assess the incoming and disseminated content on social media.

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) prevention behavior is essential for reducing DM incidence among adolescents, a population increasingly exposed to lifestyle risks and heavily engaged with digital platforms. Social media provides a promising channel for health promotion, yet limited evidence explains how literacy in this medium supports preventive behaviors. This study aims to analyze the correlation between social media literacy and intention with DM prevention behavior among adolescent students. A cross-sectional design with purposive sampling was conducted involving 231 students aged 16 years in East Java, Indonesia. Data were collected using questionnaires measuring social media literacy, intention, and DM prevention behavior, while Spearman’s rho correlation <0.05 was applied for analysis. Descriptive findings showed that 58% of participants were female, 67.1% used more than three social media platforms, 39% accessed social media 3–4 hours daily, and 4.3% had a family history of DM. The analysis revealed significant positive correlations between social media literacy (p<0.001, r=0.325) and intention (p<0.001; r=0.305) with DM prevention behavior. Adolescents with higher literacy and stronger intentions were more likely to exhibit proactive DM prevention actions. These results demonstrate that emerging technologies, particularly social media, hold substantial potential as promotive and preventive tools for adolescent health. Enhancing social media literacy can improve adolescents’ ability to identify, interpret, and apply credible health information, supporting healthier behavioral choices. The study suggests that integrating digital health literacy into adolescent-focused programs may strengthen early preventive efforts and reduce future DM risk.

Increasingly complex and multipurpose social media platforms require digital competences from parents and adolescents alike. While adolescents grow up with social media, parents have more difficulties with them, leading to uncertainties regarding their adolescents’ social media mediation. This study contributes to parental mediation research by (1) investigating whether mediation strategies defined by previous research are also relevant for social media use, and (2) exploring whether parents’ social media literacy is connected to the choice for a certain mediation strategy, as previous research already identified other impact factors such as children’s age or family composition. Using a qualitative research design, we interviewed 14 parents and 13 adolescents from 10 families in Belgium. Results indicate that, consistent with previous research, parents in this study mostly use active mediation focusing on risks and safety on social media. However, some parents monitor their children through social media accounts specifically set up for monitoring, or specialized mobile apps. Furthermore, parents with high (mostly critical) social media literacy choose active mediation over restrictive or technical strategies, recognizing opportunities of social media and letting adolescents explore on their own.

The advent of social media has led to the emergence of new forms of community building, information sharing, and participation; however, not all parts of the Global South have responded to these opportunities in the same way. Slum dwellers and other economically and socially marginalized groups in Bangladesh are increasingly using social media, yet little is known about their level of social media literacy, which is essential for safe and meaningful engagement on these platforms. This study examines the social media literacy of Dhaka's slum inhabitants through three focus groups and twenty-four in-depth interviews with young men and women from two major urban slums, aged 18 to 35, using purposive sampling. Thematic analysis, framed by Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital and the sociology of digital inequality (Braun & Clarke, 2006), revealed that critical aspects such as misinformation, privacy, and online risks are often overlooked, while participants’ literacy remains largely functional-limited to basic navigation and messaging despite frequent mobile social media use. Four themes emerged: the use of social media for entertainment and connection; ignorance of underlying digital risks; informal learning related to digital platforms; and a desire for self-empowerment constrained by poverty, gender, and education. Overall, slum dwellers’ social media use and literacy reflect profound social inequalities, and from a sociological perspective, these findings suggest that, without structural change, digital technologies are more likely to amplify rather than mitigate social marginalization.

Social media has become an inseparable part of Gen Z’s life. However, a number of previous research documented contradictive findings regarding social media use and its effect on psychological wellbeing among adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the role of self-esteem, social media dependency, and motives of social media use in the psychological well-being of Gen Z adolescents. A total of 647 students (aged 12 to 21 years, comprising 282 males and 365 females) participated and completed several self-reported instruments, including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Online Social Network Dependency Scale (OSNDS), the Social Media Usage Motives Scale (SMUMS), and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-18). Results from Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) showed that self-esteem was a positive predictor, while social media dependency was a negative predictor of psychological well-being in Gen Z adolescents. Social media dependency was also found significantly mediate the link between self-esteem and psychological well-being. In addition, motives for social media use were a significant moderator of the relationship between social media dependency and psychological well-being, in which a maintaining existing relationship motive intensified this association, while a meet new people and socializing motive weakened it. These findings implied the importance of an intervention targeting selfesteem in understanding the motive behind adolescents’ use of social media so that their consumption of social media could be appropriate and offer benefits for their psychological well-being. Keywords : gen Z; psychological well-being; self-esteem; social media dependency; social media use motive.

Although current literature has extensively discussed media literacy processes, few theories exist explaining the role of social media literacy. Social media are used daily by a substantial number of young people and may exert an important influence on its users’ well-beings. Considering media literacy, media effects, social psychology, interpersonal communication and educational literature, a novel theoretical framework called the Social Media Literacy (SMILE) model is introduced. This framework was formulated to explain (1) how to conceptualize social media literacy, (2) how social media literacy can change the dynamics between social media and its users and (3) how participatory mediation processes result into social media literacy. The SMILE-model is illustrated against the background of the social media positivity bias. Ultimately, the newly developed guiding framework aims to stimulate more theory-driven research into the scholarly understanding of social media literacy in well-being. Such insights may especially be useful for research in the field of children, adolescents and the media.

The objective of this study is to examine the influence of social media dependency and academic achievement on learning motivation among students at Al-Islam High School. The variables in this study include social media dependency and academic achievement as independent variables (X) and learning motivation as the dependent variable (Y). The researcher employed a quantitative research design using multiple regression analysis, with a sample of 289 students selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The research instruments included adapted scales using the Likert model for learning motivation, online game addiction, and emotion regulation. The learning motivation scale was adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability of 0.840. The social media dependency scale was adapted from the Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability of 0.862, and the academic achievement scale was adapted from the Learning Achievement Scale (LAS) with a Cronbach's Alpha reliability of 0.882. The results of the data analysis using multiple linear regression showed that the variables of social media dependency and academic achievement simultaneously have a significant effect on learning motivation, contributing 30.2% to the variance. Partial analysis indicated that social media dependency has a significant impact on learning motivation with a β value of -0.466 (p < .001), contributing 24.7% to the variance, while academic achievement also has a significant impact on learning motivation with a β value of 0.154 (p < .001), contributing 5.4% to the variance, indicating that social media dependency has a larger effect on learning motivation. Highlights: Significant Influence – Social media dependency and academic achievement together influence learning motivation, explaining 30.2% of the variance. Negative Impact of Social Media – Social media dependency negatively affects learning motivation (β = -0.466), contributing 24.7% to the variance, showing a stronger effect than academic achievement. Positive Role of Academic Achievement – Academic achievement positively influences learning motivation (β = 0.154), contributing 5.4% to the variance, but its effect is smaller compared to social media dependency. Keywords: Social Media Dependency, Academic Achievement, Learning Motivation

Borobudur Temple is one of the five Indonesian super-priority destinations targeted to be the "New Bali." Wanurejo tourist village is one of the areas affected by this and is considered a buffer zone to develop. Therefore, skilled human resources are required in the use of digital technology, especially social media, to be able to promote tourism destinations extensively and to increase tourism visits. This study compared and analyzed Wanurejo tourism village activists' social media literacy levels based on socioeconomic circumstances, particularly age. In order to acquire the data, a questionnaire was used as a data collection instrument. The 87 respondents who were Wanurejo tourism village activists make up the sample for this study. Data analyses were performed using descriptive and differences analysis. The findings demonstrated that the most popular social media platforms for communication, promotion, and information retrieval were WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. Additionally, Wanurejo tourism village activists had moderate social media literacy (71.58), characterized mainly by technical mastery. Based on the characteristics of the respondents, younger tourism village activists had a better level of social media literacy than older ones. According to the latest education, a higher education level was associated with greater social media literacy. As for the aspect of gender, income, and work experience, there were no notable differences in social media literacy. Therefore, strengthening social media literacy to support tourism promotion needs to be focused on millennials and highly educated tourism village activists.

It has been suggested that avoiding choice represents an anxiety-avoidance strategy, which has not been investigated in the context of social media. To this end, the current study explored the relationship between social media dependency and a preference for 'forced' choice, along with its association with anxiety, intolerance of uncertainty, and experiential avoidance. The sample comprised 151 volunteer participants (18-32years) who completed a psychometric test battery, including: the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale; Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory; Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale; and Brief Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire. They also undertook a behavioural assessment based on a paradigm developed for pigeons, in which they selected either a situation with a free choice of alternatives, and one with a forced choice. Intolerance of uncertainty mediated the relationship between social media dependency and anxiety. In addition, those with lower social media dependency preferred being able to choose the contingency they worked on, while those with higher scores exhibited no such preference. This partly confirmed that social media dependency is associated with a reduced preference for freedom, but does not suggest social media dependency actively produced a preference for a lack of freedom. The speed of decision making was also faster in those with high social media dependency scores, in line with previous findings that they show higher levels of impulsive behaviours. The results suggest that anxiety and social media dependency are related, and fear of uncertainty and is linked with digital experiential avoidance.

The previous study and theory showed that social media literacy, trust, and quality of information influence public communication behaviour towards local government social media. Hence, this article analyses the relation among those three elements in the context of urban areas in Indonesia. This research uses a mixed method on sequential explanatory strategy, a collaboration of quantitative and qualitative methods conducted subsequently with dominancy on the quantitative methods. The authors selected 100 persons randomly and proportionally as the research sample. In addition, 12 persons from selected followers, social media specialists, academicians, and civil society. Research shows that social media literacy, trust, and quality information on local government social media are good, yet the issue is in the public communication behaviour towards governments' social media. Furthermore, 41.2% of those three elements simultaneously influence the communication behaviour. The most dominant variable influencing communication behaviour is media social literacy and people's trust, while the quality of information has no significant impact. This research is based on social media data in 2022 in three urban cities in Indonesia, namely Bandung, Semarang and Surabaya. They were chosen based on the categories that the local government uses social media for at least 10 years and has a high number of social media users. Keywords: Social media literacy, trust, quality of information, communication behaviour, local government.

On average, 6 hours 58 minutes are spent on social media everyday by each user, and 98% of young people from ages 15 to 24 use the internet of which 96% are social media users. If used inappropriately, a social media user is at risk of poor mental health and behavioural problems. Also, Problematic social media users are vulnerable to several side effects and are more exposed to social media threats than any other user. Therefore, this study attempts to develop a preventive strategy by firstly, analysing the various approaches that address problematic social media use such as the legal, education and technology strategies. By assessing their strengths and weaknesses, the most effective approach- Social Media Literacy was identified. The second objective of this study is to address the weaknesses of all the approaches analysed, and by using public relations mechanisms, social media literacy was enhanced into a new approach called the Intrinsic Social Media Literacy, ISML. This new approach is not developed to stop other preventive approaches from addressing this issue. It is developed as the main approach in the prevention, and to some degree, the solving of problematic social media use among the young generation globally.

Social media literacy is assumed to protect adolescents from negative social media effects, yet research supporting this is lacking. The current three-wave panel study with a four-month interval among N = 1,032 adolescents tests this moderating role of social media literacy. Specifically, we examine between- vs. within-person relations of exposure to the positivity bias on social media, social comparison, envy, and inspiration. We find significant positive relations between these variables at the between-person level. At the within-person level, a different pattern of results occurred: higher exposure to others' perfect lives on social media was related to increased inspiration, and higher social comparison was related to increased envy, yet both associations only occurred in one of the two time intervals. Additionally, no within-person associations between exposure to positive content and envy were significant, nor between exposure and social comparison or social comparison and inspiration. These results thus seem more complex than traditional paradigms of selective and transactional media effects assume. Furthermore, multiple group tests showed that the within-person cross-lagged relation between social comparison and envy only occurred for adolescents with low affective social media literacy. The moderating role of social media literacy was not supported in any other instances. The results overall point at the need to instruct affective social media literacy to help adolescents navigate positively biased social media platforms in a healthy way.

Adolescents are assumed to develop social media literacy (SML) through interacting with different agents, such as parents and peers. However, research exploring this assumption is lacking. The current two-wave panel study (N = 1,007) partly addressed this gap by exploring the interrelationships between perceived active parental/peer mediation and adolescents’ SML (i.e. a cognitive and an affective dimension). These links were examined within the context of the social media positivity bias. Active parental mediation at Time 1 (T1) related to one aspect of cognitive SML, awareness of the presence of the positivity bias, and affective SML at Time 2 (T2). Active peer mediation at T1 did not relate to SML on the positivity bias at T2. Awareness of the presence of the positivity bias at T1 was associated with active parental mediation at T2. No age differences were found. Results suggest that parents play a role in adolescents’ SML on the positivity bias.

With advancements in technology, social media has revolutionised the way farmers communicate, resulting in an increased level of shared agricultural knowledge. Therefore, this study investigates social media literacy among oil palm smallholders in East Malaysia and the association with oil palm integration practices. A survey of 194 respondents was conducted using a random sampling method. The survey questionnaire was adapted from several previous studies on social media literacy. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses, involving t-test, ANOVA, and logistic regression were conducted. Social media literacy was significantly higher among oil palm smallholders who were younger, with higher educational levels (p < 0.05). The logistic regression analysis showed that as the level of social media literacy increased, the probability for agricultural integration practices also increased (odds ratio (OR) = 1.052; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.022, 1.083). However, smallholders needed to optimise their use of social media to provide greater benefits to their agriculture. The findings of this study are useful in illustrating that interventions in social media literacy may efficiently facilitate oil palm integration. The results of this study can provide information and recommendations towards policies for the modernising of oil palm farming in Malaysia. Such studies, however, need to be further expanded by involving a larger sample of smallholders nationwide, to represent the geography of smallholders with varying levels of internet accessibility in Malaysia.