Relationship of Social Media Addiction with Mental Health in Nursing Professionals: Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out

Description

Page: 45-49

Sunita Devi and Gunjan (Department of Applied Psychology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana)

Over the years, social media addiction appears to be an emerging problem that people are currently dealing with. Many studies show that using social media excessively can result in mental health problems. Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a significant psychological aspect of this relationship, and we are likely to amplify the detrimental influence of social media addiction on emotional and mental health. The major objective of the present study is to assess the effect of social media addiction on mental health and to investigate whether FOMO mediates this relationship. The participants of the study comprised 200 nursing staff working in various healthcare institutions across Haryana (India). The data were collected from the sample using self-reported measures. The collected data was statistically analyzed using descriptive and regression analysis on SPSS-26 using PROCESS macro software. The results of the study indicated an inter-correlation among social media addiction, FOMO, and mental health (all are significant at p<.01). The findings also depicted SMA as a positive predictor of FOMO (β=.276) whereas negative predictor of mental health (β=-.589), and FOMO also as a negative predictor of mental health (β=-1.025). With an impact size (β) of -.283, FOMO was found to be a partial mediator in the link between mental health and social media addiction. The study concluded that the mental health of medical practitioners including the nursing staff is an important concern. The study also suggested mental health practitioners make targeted interventions as it focuses on those specific problems and urges policymakers to set up support systems and policies focused on healthcare workers’ well-being, which would make a healthier work environment and promise better mental health management strategies.