45% Kashmir students up to Class 12 report sub-optimal mental wellbeing due to social media: study

As southern States in India are mulling to ban social media for teens, a study in Kashmir high schools has suggested that 45% students report sub-optimal mental wellbeing, with older students more exposed to technology “but feel worse”.  

“The inability of some students to check in with some technologies according to their wishes results in a feeling of anxiety. More than 14% were moderately to highly anxious when they were unable to use text messages,” according to the study, published this year by the Ianna Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 

The survey titled “Nexus Between Social Media Use and Mental Health Outcomes among high School students in Kashmir” studied around 400 students, both in rural and urban settings, from Class 7 up to Class 12. It assessed the students on their social media usage, which included social activity, video gaming, virtual friendships, and smartphone addiction. 

“More than 17% of students were moderately to very highly anxious when they could not use cell phone calls, while an inability to use Facebook and other social networks as desired resulted in moderately to very high anxiousness among at least 12% of students,” it said.

The study suggested that failure to use personal email, work email, and voice mail as desired by the students resulted in moderately to very high anxiousness among at least 13% and 10% of students. “44.3% of students were found to have poor to moderate psychological wellbeing. Older students feel worse,” it said.  

Video gaming topped the negative correlation with students’ psychological well being followed by internet searching, smartphone use and text messaging. The study also found that there was a heightened use of smartphones, gaming, and social networks among male students compared to female students.

“A few of the students had moderate to high use of technology, such as online friendship (3.6%), video gaming (2.8%), phone calling (2%), television viewing (1.6%), text messaging (1.2%) and social media friendship (0.8%),” it underlined

The study calls for relooking at school policy in Kashmir. “Interventions must focus on developing healthy social media habits in students. Schools must consider developing computer and information competency programs with a view toward educating students about the potential consequences and dangers of social media, as well as techniques for controlling social media use and addiction,” the study suggested.

It also advocated mental health service programs as part of schools to educate students in managing psychologically challenging consequences of behaviour in cyberspace. “Counselling and educational programs can motivate students to develop healthy online habits and encourage them to seek help when faced with technology-related stress and anxiety,” it said.

The study stressed on parents to provide guided screen use, create offline social experiences, and engage in positive discussions about social media “to mitigate the detrimental consequences of excessive social media use”.

It also called upon lawmakers to create policies to support digital wellness, including programs for safer web use, filtering age-appropriate content, and creating spaces that promote responsible social media use. According to official figures, a total enrolment from pre-primary to Class 12 in Kashmir stood at around 26.17 lakh during the academic year 2024–25.