Social media impacts on Bangladeshi college students

Extensive research in developed countries indicates that the spread of smartphones, enabling more intensive social media use, is associated with increases in depression, anxiety, and stress among adolescents and young adults. Using logistic regression and structural equation modeling (SEM), we analyze the relationship between social media use and youths’ mental health outcomes in a developing country, Bangladesh. We surveyed Bangladeshi college students (n = 683) using the DASS-21 survey questionnaire. We found no direct relationship between the amount of time spent on social media and the elevated levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, we observed strong indirect association between time spent on social media and mental health constructs (depression, anxiety, and stress) through study hours, personal relationship crises, friendship crises, and career anxiety. The amount of time spent on social media appears to disengage from study time, disrupt friendships, increase the likelihood of personal relationship crises, and accelerate career related anxiety. These mediating factors, in turn, have relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress.