Social Media Use and Social Anxiety among Adolescents

Abstract

Online social networking sites are being used all around the world. However, only recently researchers have started to investigate their relationship with mental health. Evidence coming from literature suggests that they have both advantages and disadvantages for individuals. The current study seeks to examine the relationship between extent of social media usage and levels of social anxiety. The hypothesis states that there is no relationship between social media usage and social anxiety. The tools used to examine the same were the Social Networking Time Use Scale (SONTUS) and Kutcher Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder Scale for Adolescents (K-GSADS-A). The sample included 60 adolescents, consisting of 30 males and 30 females. The descriptive analysis indicated a mean score of 56.75 for K-GSADS-A, indicating above average levels of social anxiety and a mean score of 18.73 for SONTUS, indicating high social media usage. The correlation coefficient after conducting statistical analysis using SPSS-23 is -0.08. The findings showed that there is no significant correlation between social media usage and levels of social anxiety among adolescents.