Aim and background: Social media is a major part of daily life, especially among the youth, enabling communication and self-expression.While it offers connectivity, excessive use has been linked to depression, anxiety, and stress.Medical students, under high academic pressure, may be particularly vulnerable.The study aimed to assess patterns of social media use and its association with psychological distress among medical students.Materials and methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted over 1 year at a tertiary care government medical college in India.A total of 320 medical students undergraduates (UGs), interns, and postgraduates (PGs), aged 18-30 years, with active social media use for at least 4 weeks, were recruited through purposive sampling.Data on demographics and social media use were collected using a semi-structured pro forma.Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler psychological distress scale (K-10).Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013 and SPSS v20.The Chi-square test was applied with significance set at p < 0.05.Results: Half of the participants reported no distress, while 22.2% had mild, 15% moderate, and 12.8% had severe distress.Higher distress was associated with Telegram use (p = 0.014), fashion content (p = 0.022), use during class/duty (p = 0.022), usage over 2 hours daily (p = 0.001), perceived overuse (p = 0.002), frequent posting (p = 0.001), and negative post-engagement behavior (p = 0.001).Conclusion: Specific patterns of social media use are linked to psychological distress in medical students.Awareness and early intervention may help reduce these effects.
Thampuratti et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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