The impact of social media use on the self-esteem of young teenagers and youth in Uganda (A case study in Bulenga, Kampala)

Abstract

The usage of social media has risen rapidly over recent years. This noticeable increase in popularity has excessively affected users’ lives and the occurrence has drawn the attention of researchers. Prior research has generally evaluated social media use on a single platform (Facebook). However, social media statistics have indicated that there has been a sudden decrease in Facebook usage among 18-25 years old though older people have started to use Facebook more actively. On the other hand, the use of some other social network platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter has increased suddenly among young adults. A few research studies have focused on social media use including Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn. This study intends to contribute to the research in this area by examining the relationship between the usage of social media and self-esteem among teenagers and young youth in Bulenga, Kampala district. To achieve this purpose, the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ) was used to assess the participants’ level of social media addiction. The survey collected demographic information for the research participants. In addition to the SMAQ and demographic questions, the participants completed the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. 132 teenagers participated in this study. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation was used to analyze the results. Results indicated that the most commonly used social media platform was Facebook (32.1%) and most participants used social media for entertainment (44.3%) than for academic purposes (5.7%). In addition to this, there was a statistically significant negative correlation between self-esteem and social media use r = -0.22, p˂.01.