E-Paper
Heavy social media use causing sleep disorders among college students in HP: Study
Over 1,400 college students from across the state participated in the survey.
College students in Himachal are getting sleep disorders due to excessive social media use, a study has suggested.
On average, college-going students in the hill state spend around four hours on apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, reveals the study ‘Social media and youth mental health: Social connectedness and empathy’.
Over 1,400 college students from across the state participated in the survey. They were from various disciplines including science, arts, commerce, computer science, informant technology, engineering and management. More than 59% of the participants were males and 41% females.
“Heavy social media use affects the sleep of one in every three students as they stay awake during the night,” said Dr Dhyan Singh, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at Government College, Dharamshala.
The study was conducted using an online Likert scale survey to know about students’ social media use and its impact, he said.
Singh said a majority of the participants agreed that social media use has affected their life depressingly. “About 32% of students admitted that it was the main reason for their sleep disorders,” the professor said adding that one-third of students also agree of spending little time with family as they remain busy on social networking sites.
More than 27% of participants admitted that have become addicted to social media sites.
But most concerning is the fact that 10% of them feel depressed and about 2.5% say that they get suicidal thoughts.
Being on social media sites for a long time also takes a toll emotionally, said Singh.
“A quarter of the participants said that it triggers negative thinking and they start comparing their lives with others and sometimes it hurts their self-esteem,” Singh added.
Apart from this, Singh said, a considerable number of participants said that they were experiencing body dysmorphic disorders. Other 9% admitted that heavy use of social media has altered their eating habits, the professor added.
