A Comparative Study on Social Media Usage and Health Status among Students Studying in Pre-University Colleges of Urban Bengaluru

INTRODUCTION: Social Media usage is a “global consumer phenomenon” with an exponential rise within the past few years. The use of social media websites is among the common activity for today's adolescents, they are sometimes overused/misused, which may lead to social media addiction. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess and compare the prevalence of social media addiction between Government and Private Pre-University (PU) college study subjects, to assess the health problems related to social media usage among the study subjects, and to assess the various factors associated with social media addiction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Government and Private PU colleges situated in a selected ward of urban Bengaluru city through multistage sampling. A total of 1870 study subjects were recruited. A scale was developed to assess social media addiction. RESULTS: The prevalence of social media addiction was 36.9% among users, distributed equally among private and Government PUs. The most common health problem identified was strain on eyes (38.4%), anger (25.5%), and sleep disturbance (26.1%). Being a male, the habit of smoking, alcohol, and tobacco, consumption of junk food, having ringxiety and selfitis were found to be significant risk factors for social media addiction. CONCLUSION: Social media addiction was found in over one-thirds of subjects and majority had mild addiction.