The effect of social media usage on the mental well-being of medical college students in Bangalore, Karnataka

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Social media offers a platform for its users to share information and spread awareness regarding various issues including mental health problems. In some previous studies it was found that people suffering from mental health issues benefited from social media. However, the use of social media is also significantly associated with increased depression, mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents. Furthermore, it was found that the prevalence of poor mental health was high in medical students. With this background, this study was taken up to contribute to the scarce literature about the impact social media has on the mental well-being of medical students. METHODS: The setting was a medical college and research centre, situated in the metropolitan city of Bengaluru in Karnataka. A pretested and predesigned questionnaire was self-administered anonymously by 318 students. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistics. RESULTS: A statistically significant relationship was found between the amount of time spent on social media and the mental well-being score, according to the Sell and Nagpal scale, of students. In participants with scores of < 90.8, (30.2%) of them used social media for 4 hrs or more, as opposed to those with scores ≥ to 90.8, (35.6%) of them spent between 1 and 2 hrs a day on social media, 90.8 being the mean well-being score in India. CONCLUSIONS: Students need to monitor their screen time. There is a need to go back to old times of establishing human connections and, families and friendships should be nurtured.