The Relationship Between Social Media Usage Among Students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah Towards Anxiety And Depression

Abstract

The use of social media has risen dramatically throughout the world. Because of the growth in social media usage, people spend hours each day on various social media platforms, sending messages and images, tweeting, changing status, like, and commenting on various social updates. The issue is that social media exposes individuals, especially the younger generation, to a wide range of intriguing activities and happenings. Another component of social media usage has been proven to enhance social anxiety for certain people. Previous study has shown that the number of social networking sites utilized and the time spent on them may be modifiers of anxiety and depressive symptoms. This study aims to determine the relationship between social media usage among students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah with symptoms of anxiety and depression. A total of 160 students have answered the questionnaire for this study. This study can help to see how much social media has affected the students of Universiti Malaysia Sabah in terms of anxiety and depression. The result of this study can be used to check on the students’ anxiety and depression level and help to create an intervention to help the students with the problem they have faced. There is a significant relationship between social media usage among females with anxiety. It is also noted that social media usage among both male and female have significant relationship with depression.