IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON MENTAL HEALTH OF YOUTH IN PAKISTAN: A REFORMATION PLAN, BASED ON A CROSS-SECTIONAL INSIGHT

Abstract

During past 10 years, online social networking has exercised great effects on how people communicate and socialize. This change in terms of communication, has shown a strong impact on people’s mental health and added to multiple psychological issues. This study aims at investigating the impact of social media on the mental health of the youngsters in Lahore, Pakistan. Also this research attempts at identifying the relation between social media usage and mental health. This research highlights the positive and negative effects of social media on the young people. It also helps in suggesting the right choice of social media platform to be used without getting being affected mentally. In order to carry out this study, using Quantitative research method and employing survey tool, the study concludes that 42% of the people prefer to use WhatsApp the most on daily bases. 23.1% of the people spend 10 hours while 28.2% of people spend 6 hours daily on their phone/laptop. 34% of people use social media for entertainment purposes, and 26% of people use it for educational purposes. In the light of the survey conducted, it is recommended that maintaining balance in the social media usage time is very important otherwise, it could disturb the mental health of the students.