CYBERBULLYING, LONELINESS AND USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

Abstract

The rapid development of social media has changed the communication trends among college students but the overuse of it can bring some negative psychological consequences like cyberbullying and feelings of loneliness. The current research has investigated the interdependence between social media usage, cyberbullying and loneliness in Pakistani college students. It involved a population of 320 students (18-25) in this quantitative correlational study. The subjects were subjected to self-report questionnaires such as the Social Media Use Questionnaire, Cyberbullying Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation and Multiple Regression. The findings showed that there were strong positive relationships between social media use, victimization by cyberbullying, and loneliness. The use of social media has turned out to be a strong predictor of cyberbullying, whereas cyberbullying has a strong predictive capacity on loneliness. The results provide an understanding of the psychological danger of overindulgence in social media and emphasize cyber bullying as one of the arbitrators of loneliness development among college students. The work offers empirical data to help in the creation of specific interventions, such as digital literacy, cyberbullying prevention, and peer-support programs that can be used to create safer online spaces and enhance the psychological well-being of the students.