Impact of social media on the lifestyle of rural youth
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Date
2023-05
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Publisher
CCSHAU, Hisar
Abstract
Rural youth frequently engage in multifaceted activities and technology through the use of
numerous social media platforms. Social media has different effects on young people's lives on both
ends; the benefits of social media for today's youth include keeping them informed of global events and
allowing them to network and stay in touch with friends. And other times these effects are bad for the
user including suicide, anxiety, depression, physical, emotional, mental, and psychological problems,
as well as a lack of confidence. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to access the nature and
extent of use of social media and its impact on well-being and lifestyle of rural youth. The study was
conducted in rural area of 2 cultural zones of Haryana state. Further, two villages namely Newal and
Kunjpura from Karnal district and Khedar and Bhaini Badshahpur from Hisar district were taken
randomly. A sample of 180 rural youth was selected randomly from rural areas of each district to make
a total sample of 360 rural youths. Results of overall general well-being portray that majority of the
respondents (>70%) showed high level of general well-being in aspects like cultural and religious wellbeing,
active life-style, positivity, family relation and environmental adjustment. Results depict that
majority of the respondents had medium level of life-style in aspects i.e. health conscious, family and
academic oriented. The majority of respondents used WhatsApp and YouTube, which ranked first and
second in the results for use of various social networking sites, respectively. Majority of respondents
(>90%) had knowledge of social media. Results elucidated that socio-economic variables such as age,
sex, marital status, education, land holding, annual income occupation were found significantly
associated with adoption of social media. Results regarding impact of social media on health indicated
that majority of the respondents considered ill effect of social media on health. Aspects of mental
health such as distraction and stress got 1st and 2nd rank respectively in terms of effect of social media.
With regards to impact of social media on physical health the findings elucidated that laziness and eye
pain were placed 1st and 2nd rank respectively.