THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE ON MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF USERS AND NON-USERS

The present study examined the influence of social media use on mental health and psychological well-being by comparing social media users and non-users among college students. The research was conducted in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar District, Maharashtra, India. A total of 60 college students aged 18–25 years participated, comprising 40 active social media users and 20 non-users. Participants were selected through simple random sampling. Levels of depression and psychological well-being were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck et al., 1996) and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS; Ryff, 1989), respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and independent-samples t-tests. Results indicated that social media users exhibited significantly higher depression scores than non-users. Conversely, non-users reported significantly higher levels of psychological well-being compared to their user counterparts. These findings suggest that social media engagement may be associated with poorer mental health outcomes and reduced eudaimonic well-being in this college student population.