Impact of social networking sites on adolescent alienation and depression with special reference to Facebook usage

Abstract

Social networking sites, especially Facebook, have become common among adolescents and young adults. The use of Facebook enable enables users to make new friends, to establish and/or maintain relationships and to respond, comment and share information. Despite its social and innovative features, there has been increasing concern regarding its negative consequences on psychological and social well-being among adolescents and young adults. In light of this, the current study focuses on Facebook usage and its relationship with depression and alienation among adolescents. The study’s findings indicate that Facebook usage has a positive and significant relationship with alienation but is negatively correlated with depression. Further, it was also found that alienation and depression would contribute to the prediction of Facebook usage of adolescents both independently as well as conjointly