The impact of social media on the happiness of Chinese college students

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd..

Background: In the contemporary academic milieu, an array of erudite investigations has meticulously delved into the ramifications of social media paradigms on the nuances of modern societal interactions. Predominantly, these scholarly endeavors have harnessed quantitative methodologies to discern both the advantageous and detrimental implications of social media. Notwithstanding these extensive analyses, there appears to be a conspicuous lacuna in the literature about the subjective repercussions of social media on the well-being and contentment of tertiary education students. In light of this gap, the present qualitative exploration seeks to elucidate the perceptions of Chinese collegiate individuals vis-à-vis the influence of social media platforms on their experiential happiness.

Method: Guided by interpretative phenomenological analysis (Jonathan et al., 2022) [1], we conducted 3 semi-structured interviews with 5 university students.

Result: Using an interpretive phenomenology analysis approach four themes. They are (1) The Paradox of Temperance and Indulgence, (2) Identity Construction and Presentation, (3) Social Support and Connection, and (4) Social Comparison and Self-Evaluation.

Discussion: Findings suggest that the individual well-being of college students may be affected by ambivalence between moderate and indulgent use of social media, social media interactions to maintain and enhance personal identity, and comparisons between individuals and certain online groups. Therefore, the government, higher education institutions, and college students should work together to build a safe and happy university life.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:10

Enthalten in:

Heliyon - 10(2024), 6 vom: 30. März, Seite e28331

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Xu, Yingying [VerfasserIn]
Razak, Ratna Roshida Ab [VerfasserIn]
Xiang, Meng [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

China
College students
Happiness
Journal Article
Social media
Well-being

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 28.03.2024

published: Electronic-eCollection

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28331

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM37022597X