Social media addiction: A comprehensive state of mental health

Authors: Ritu Chauhan ¹, Abdallah M. A. Al-Tarawneh ², Nidal A. Al-Dmour ^3, *, Kashish Mudliyar ¹, Khushi Dubey ¹, Eiad Yafi ⁴, Taher M. Ghazal ⁵

Affiliations:

¹Artificial Intelligence and IoT Lab, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Amity University UP, Noida, India
²Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan
³Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, Mutah University, Mu'tah, Jordan
⁴Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
⁵Department of Networks and Cybersecurity, Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan

Abstract

Social media addiction, characterized by compulsive and excessive engagement with social platforms, negatively impacts mental health by fostering unfavorable comparisons between users’ lives and the idealized portrayals of others. These curated online personas can distort self-perception, diminish self-esteem, and contribute to long-term psychological distress. While social media offers networking and support, its detrimental effects necessitate a balanced approach to usage. This study investigates the relationship between social media addiction and mental health outcomes using a synthetic dataset, revealing a strong negative correlation (r = -1.0) between addiction severity and mental well-being. A Random Forest model was employed to predict mental health scores based on addiction levels, demonstrating the predictive utility of behavioral engagement metrics. The findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the adverse mental health consequences of social media addiction, suggesting that structured approaches could help reduce its psychological burden.

Keywords

Social media addiction, Mental health, Negative correlation, Random Forest model, Behavioral interventions

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DOI

https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.09.009

Citation (APA)

Chauhan, R., Al-Tarawneh, A. M. A., Al-Dmour, N. A., Mudliyar, K., Dubey, K., Yafi, E., & Ghazal, T. M. (2025). Social media addiction: A comprehensive state of mental health. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 12(9), 100–106. https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2025.09.009