Social Media Addiction and its Perceived Effects among Young Adults in Metro Manila

Abstract

Internet addiction is not recognized in the Philippines as a serious problem as manifested in the lack of treatment facilities and programs that caters to individuals who suffer from internet addiction. It is interesting to look at the phenomenon of social media addiction since 93.9% of the country uses the Facebook alone. The purpose of this study was to explore social media addiction by identifying its negative effects on individuals, describing the nature of social media addiction, assessing the levels of social media addiction of young adults in Metro Manila and determining its association with the psychological and socio-cultural problems of the individual. Three hundred and ninety young adults aged 18 – 25 years old residing in the Metro Manila participated in this study. After informed consent has been sought, a survey was given to them to determine their socio-demographic profiles, the dynamics of their use of the social media, and measure the level of their social media addiction and the psychological and socio-cultural problems they experienced. Interviews were also conducted to expound on selected parts of the survey questionnaire such as the individual’s reasons for using the social media, the factors affecting their social media use, and their perceived negative and positive effects of using the social media. Results showed that excessive social media users were mostly female students aged 18 years old who lived in Pasig City. These excessive social media users use the social media for about 10 - 14 hours daily primarily to communicate with friends and family and to see updates as well. Majority of the respondents appeared to have low to moderate social media addiction and suffer from moderate psychological and socio-cultural problems. Perceived problems include social media being a distraction from productive activities and leads to the development of negative feelings. There was a significant but weak correlation found between the level of internet addiction and the psychological and socio-cultural problems. The respondents saw the social media as a means for communicating with other people and for being updated with the latest trends. The results were consistent with the findings of the previous studies on internet addiction regarding the problems experienced by the individuals because of their use of the social media.