Pre-teens face more ‘social media stress’ than older teenagers, PGI study finds

Children aged 10–13 are more vulnerable to social media-related stress than teenagers in the 14 and 16 age group, a study conducted by PGIMER has showed. The study further states that younger adolescents experienced mild to severe “digital stress”, compared with 48 per cent of those aged 14–16.

The study, titled ‘Social Media Use and Digital Stress Among School Adolescents in North India’, was conducted between January and April this year by researchers from PGIMER’s Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, and Department of Psychiatry. It was authored by Dr Nupur Vats, Professor Madhu Gupta, Dr Tanvi Kiran from Community medicine and Dr Sandeep Grover from Psychiatry department.

According to the study, the younger group was also more likely to show problematic social media use.

The study mentions, “Around 20 per cent of adolescents aged 10–13 reported problematic use, compared with about 12 per cent among those aged 14–16.”

“Overall, 52 per cent of the 1,306 students surveyed experienced mild to severe digital stress, while 32 per cent spent more than three hours a day on social media on weekdays,” it was added.

While speaking to The Indian Express, Professor Madhu Gupta said, “Social media can create pressure among adolescents to remain constantly available, seek approval through likes and comments, and keep up with what others are doing online. The fear of missing out, along with the need for social validation, can contribute to digital stress. These pressures are particularly concerning for younger adolescents, who may be less equipped to manage them. Parents and schools need to help children develop healthy digital habits rather than simply focusing on the number of hours they spend online.”

The study concluded, “Younger adolescents, urban residents, and those reporting problematic use are particularly vulnerable.”

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The cross-sectional study covered 1,306 school-going adolescents aged 10–16 years from government and private schools in urban Chandigarh and rural Raipur Rani block of Panchkula district.

Of these, 687 were from Chandigarh and 619 from Raipur Rani. Boys accounted for 54.3 per cent of the sample and girls 45.7 per cent; the mean age was 13.6 years.

The researchers used a two-stage cluster sampling method to select 20 schools — 10 government and 10 private, equally divided between the urban and rural areas. Forty classes were selected from 59 sections. Of the 1,428 students approached, 1,306 participated, while 122 were either absent or declined to take part.

Students filled out bilingual, self-administered questionnaires assessing social media use, digital stress, internet addiction and emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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These included a 34-item Social Media Use Frequency Questionnaire, a 37-item Digital Stress Questionnaire, Young’s 20-item Internet Addiction Test and the 25-item Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

The researchers examined different forms of digital stress, including pressure to remain available online, anxiety over social approval, fear of missing out (FOMO), connection overload and constant online vigilance.

Time spent on social media was also associated with higher levels of digital stress. Among students spending more than three hours daily on social media, 64 per cent reported digital stress on weekdays, compared with 46 per cent among those spending less time.

On weekends, the corresponding figures were 60 per cent and 43 per cent. The study found that urban adolescents reported higher moderate-to-severe digital stress than their rural counterparts — 17 per cent compared with 11 per cent. Girls reported significantly higher moderate-to-severe availability stress than boys, while FOMO was more frequently reported by girls and urban adolescents.

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The researchers also found that around 40 per cent of adolescents had internet dependency, which was closely linked to digital stress.