Emotional Dysregulation and Social Media Addiction Among Young Adults: The Moderating Role of Mindfulness

Abstract

This paper has discussed the association between emotional dysregulation and social media addiction in young adults, as well as investigated how mindfulness mediates these relationships. With the continued increase in the use of social networking platforms, such as Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, and X, the problem of overuse and compulsive behavior have increased. Young adults are prone to problematic use of social media due to issues related to development such as exploration of identity, emotional volatility, academic stress and comparison with peers. The research was conducted on the premise that the people who find it hard to understand, accept, and control their emotions are more likely to use excessive social media usage as a coping strategy to deal with negative emotions. Meanwhile, the concept of mindfulness was discussed as a protective element, which can undermine the correlation between emotional dysregulation and social media addiction. The quantitative research design was employed where young adults were recruited based on standardized self-report measures of emotional dysregulation, mindfulness and social media addiction. The results revealed that the emotional dysregulation was positively related to increased levels of social media addiction. People with more emotional problems were more prone to showing compulsive behaviour of social media use. Mindfulness, however, was observed to have a negative relationship with emotional dysregulation and social media addiction which meant that the more mindful individuals were, the lesser the chances of them becoming social media addicts. The paper highlights the applicability of emotional regulation and mindfulness to elaborate problematic use of social media. These findings might be utilized to create preventive strategies, counseling strategies, and mindfulness-based interventions that might be used to promote optimal digital habits and mental health among young adults.