Social Media Addiction and Its Effect on Academic Performance Among Pakistani College Students: A Mixed-Methods Study of Sleep, Attention, and Educational Outcomes

Abstract

Although almost everyone uses social media these days as college students, too much of it can have a detrimental effect on students' academic performance, sleep, and psychological well-being. It was a mixed method study with population of this study was 400 graduate students withering in public sector colleges of the City Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The questionnaires used for pattern of social media use, sleep quality, classroom attention, academic procrastination and academic performance (GPAs) were validated and stratified random sampling across the six institutions was adopted. Moderate social media users (M = 3.18, SD = 0.65) had significantly higher GPAs than the participants who spent more than four hours per day on social media (60% of sample; M = 2.64, SD = 0.71; t(398) = -7.24, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 1.08). Results of correlation analysis in data analysis revealed that there was a significant negative relationship between screen time and GPA (r = -0.62, p < 0.001) and sleep duration had a significant negative relationship with GPA (r = -0.63, p < 0.001) as mediator. The highest platform rate of frequent use was found to be TikTok, which had 78.3% of the top platforms, with algorithm-based platforms with personalized content and an infinite scroll. Sleep disturbance was prevalent (58% of the heavy users reported sleep for <6 hours per night). Through regression analysis, they determined that GPAs can be explained by a combination of total daily screen time, sleep time and time spent in the classroom, which added up to 47% of the variance. Qualitative interviews (n = 24 students) indicated that most had a social media use for anxiety reduction and peer connections, with most recognizing and denying any negative effects on academics. It revealed very impressive level of correlation between addiction to social media and academic achievement of Pakistan's college students and formulated recommendations for college administration, college students' digital literacy and a framework of guidelines/policies for a healthier relationship of technology. These ranges from family involvement, teacher recommendations to aid in classroom management, HEC policy making, technology, and academic honesty, to campus sponsored digital wellness activities.

The key words utilized are social media addiction, academic performance, TikTok addiction, sleep quality, classroom attention, digital wellness, college students, and Pakistan higher education, technology and learning and academic outcomes.