The Role of Social Media in the Development or Encouragement of Poor Social Interaction, FOMO, Perceived Emotional Support in Young Women

Sulipi Biswas; Dr. Ridhima Shukla

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| Published: December 12, 2022

The Role of Social Media in the Development or Encouragement of Poor Social Interaction, FOMO, Perceived Emotional Support in Young Women

Sulipi Biswas

Undergraduate, B.Sc. Psychology (Hons.), CHRIST (deemed to be University), Delhi NCR Google Scholar More about the auther

, Dr. Ridhima Shukla

Assistant professor Christ (deemed to be University) Delhi NCR Google Scholar More about the auther

DIP: 18.01.122.20221004

DOI: 10.25215/1004.122

ABSTRACT

The decline in mental health among Indian young adults is a significant concern. Research suggests that social media use may contribute to this decline. Heavy reliance on social media has been linked to feelings of loneliness and disconnection, psychological distress, and a fear of missing out on rewarding social experiences, which may ultimately affect social interaction. Using a foundation of gratification theory, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine individual differences in the social media use as a predictor variable of perceived emotional support, fear of missing out, and poor social interaction can be inferred. Online survey data from 150 young females who use social media were collected using the Fear of Missing Out Scale, Social Networking Time Use Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Online Social Support Scale. Results from a correlation analysis revealed that increased social media use predicted heightened fear of missing out, perceived emotional support and effect social interaction. Social media use retaliation behavior in response to rejection. The predictor variables were not related to not acting friendly behavior in an offline situation. This study can promote social change by informing policy and instruction on digital media literacy, social media use in the classroom, and therapeutic interventions offered by educational setup and other organizations’ psychological services, all of which can positively influence young females’ mental health and wellbeing.

Keywords

Social Media, Fear of Missing Out, Perceived Emotional Support, Social Interaction, Digital Media Literacy, Young Females

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This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite this article: Sulipi, B. & Ridhima, S. (2022). The Role of Social Media in the Development or Encouragement of Poor Social Interaction, FOMO, Perceived Emotional Support in Young Women. International Journal of Indian Psychology, 10(4), 1273-1295. DIP:18.01.122.‌20221004, ‌DOI:10.25215/1004.122