ABSTRACT
The well-being of adolescents is negatively affected by the use of social media, primarily by way of depression, which is related somewhat to enhanced morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression and happiness as associated with the use of social media among undergraduate students. This cross-sectional study was conducted among ninety-eight randomly selected higher education students of various higher education institutes in Jaipur, Rajasthan, all between the ages of 16 and 23 years old. Depression among subjects was diagnosed through the scale made by Aaron T. Beck. The data of age, gender, source of accessing social media, usage of social media in a day, and average length of each visit to social media were used as independent variables. Depression among subjects was considered as a dependent variable, which was further classified into depressed and not-depressed categories. The Kruskal-Wallis Test was applied, and the result shows a significant difference in the depression score between the different social media usage groups and the average length of each visit to social media. The study concluded that the higher education students should use social media with a proper schedule and with self-regulation in order to prevent or manage depression and to lead a happy and well-managed life.
