Prevalence and Factors Associated with Social Media Addiction Among Medical and Allied Science Students of Purbanchal University, Nepal: A Cross-Sectional Study

Social media addiction (SMA) is an increasingly recognized problem among university students worldwide, with limited data available from Nepal. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of SMA and its associated socio-demographic and behavioural factors among Medical and Allied Science students of Purbanchal University. It was conducted between June and November 2019 among 422 students purposively sampled from four colleges affiliated to Purbanchal University, using a pre-tested, self-administered structured questionnaire comprising 15 socio-demographic items and 8 items on internet/social media use; SMA was operationally defined as social media use exceeding 3 hours per day, and data were analyzed in SPSS v20 using frequencies, percentages, and the chi-square test, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Of the 422 respondents, 96.2% used social media accounts and 33.9% met criteria for SMA. Facebook was the most used platform (31.4%) and Twitter the least used (7.5%). The majority (78.9%) had used social media for 3 years or more, and the commonest reason for use was to stay connected with people (55.5%). SMA was significantly associated with receiving pocket money from parents (p=0.019), having an internet connection at home (p=0.003), possessing a social media account (p=0.043), duration of social media use (p<0.001), and use of Google (p=0.030), while no significant association was found with age, sex, religion, ethnicity, family type, parental education/occupation, marital status, employment status, or perceived family relationship. Overall, approximately one in three Medical and Allied Science students at Purbanchal University showed features of social media addiction, with home internet access, pocket money, longer duration of use, and account ownership emerging as the principal correlates; targeted awareness programmes and campus-level policy measures are recommended to address this emerging public health concern.