Dependency on Social Media and its Effects on Users

Abstract

The current study aims to observe a relationship between temporal aspect and patterns of social media usage, social media dependency and resultant psychological and behavioral implications. In-depth it investigates in (1) examining a relationship between social media usage and social media dependency, (2) analyzing a mediating role of social media dependency between social media usage and its effects, and (3) exploring a relationship between social media dependency and cognitive and pro-social outcomes. Founded on Media System Dependency Theory (MSDT) from a micro-scale perspective, a quantitative approach was opted to measure the variables. Data was collected from students of two major universities, Bahria University (E-8 campus) and Quaid-i-Azam University, and was later analyzed using regression and mediation techniques. It was found that social media usage patterns significantly predict dependency goals among users. Male respondents showed a prolonged social media usage from historical perspective, whereas female respondents were found to be highly engaged with social media on daily basis. Furthermore, social media usage of male respondents revealed instrumental patterns in comparison to female respondents whose higher frequency of social media usage led to purposeful but leisure usage too. The dependency goals, understanding and orientation, were found to be strongly inter-connected. Also, the mediating analysis demonstrated significant intermediary linkage between patterns of social media usage and cognitive and pro-social outcomes. Overall, the findings underscore a dual role of social media dependency, both as a behavioral driver and a psychological influence.