RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA SCREEN TIME AND QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS DURING PANDEMIC COVID19 IN KUALA LUMPUR

Social media can be used as a channel for communication with family members. A strong dependence on the Internet may result from excessive screen time, which can then affect people's mental health and well-being. It has been suggested that adolescent social media use is associated with decreased mental health. One of the key components that affects a person's quality of life is their mental health in the aspects of anxiety and depression levels. This cross-sectional study aimed to measure and analyse the relationship between social media screen time and quality of life among undergraduate biomedical sciences students. In Kuala Lumpur, this study's online survey was carried out. A validated questionnaire about social media use and quality of life was used to conduct this online survey. The study involved 182 respondents. WhatsApp was the most popular communication platform, with 62.6%, followed by Twitter with 12.6%. 52.7% use social media for social and entertainment purposes. There was no significant mean difference in social media usage and screen time between gender, year of study, income, and residency (p>0.05). There was no significant interaction between gender and year of study for social media usage duration(F=1.465, p>0.05). There was no significant correlation between the level of social media with quality of life(p>0.05). Meanwhile, using binary logistic regression analysis, there was no significant relationship between level of screen time with all domains of quality of life. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between the level of screen time and the year of study OR=3.67(2nd year) and OR=3.14 (4th year) when compared to the first year (p<0.05). In conclusion, the results suggested there was a significant relationship between social media usage and with year of study. The results suggest that higher education should consider promoting the effective usage of social media using the social media platform as most students nowadays find information on social media. Keywords: Anxiety; depression; social media; screen time; quality of life; undergraduates.