Prevalence and Motives of Social Media Use among the Iranian Population

BACKGROUND: Around the world, people are using social media (SM) for different purposes following a wide range of patterns. There is a paucity of studies addressing the issue in the Eastern Mediterranean region. In this population-based study, the frequency and patterns of SM use in Iran were investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To explore the prevalence and motives of SM use, a sample of 1800 Iranian people aged 10–65 years old (53.5% female) were surveyed. Social media addiction (SMA) was assessed using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. RESULTS: The results revealed that 88.5% (n = 1593) of the participants were SM users, and the average time spent by them in SM was 4.0 ± 3.9 hours. The most common motivations for SM use were communication with others (48.9%), receiving news (40.7%), and surfing the net (40.6%). Besides, burning eyes (31.0%), headache (26.8%), and sleep disturbance (25.1%) were the most common health problems experienced by SM users. The SMA prevalence was 23.1% (95% CI: 21.2, 25.1) (males: 23.8%; females: 22.5%), with a higher rate (26.0%) among adolescents and young people. CONCLUSION: SM use and SMA appear to be real health challenges in Iran, particularly among youth. Consequently, to decrease the negative impacts of excessive SM use, exploring the motives behind SM use and designing population-based interventions are recommended.