FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BACHELOR’S DEGREE (HONS) IN HUMAN RESOURCE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY (MGT648)

SELF-CONTROL AND DEPENDENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

NAME OF MEMBERS MATRIC NO

MUHAMMAD HAFIZUL IZZAT BIN ZULKIPLI 2019630786
FARAH SYAHIRAH BINTI MOHAMMED YUSOFF 2019467796
NURSYAHIRA BINTI JOHAN 2019452204
NUR HANI FARHANA BINTI HARUN 2019468006
NUR SYAZWANI BINTI SAHALRUDIN 2019689438

CLASS:

BA243 5C

PREPARED FOR:

DR. RACHEL SAMUEL

SUBMISSION DATE:

2nd JULY 2021

 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This paper of research methodology is to provide the analysis of appropriate methods that
was applied in a field of study. This study involves all students at Universiti Teknologi MARA
(UiTM) Malacca City Campus from part 5 and we take all courses including International
Business, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Office Management, and Tourism as our
population. Hence, the study is conducted through questionnaire to all students in getting the
data whether the addiction to social media comes from self-control. Therefore, this research
will be analysed at the end of this chapter.

1.2 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

Social media is a platform that we use daily and spend a lot of the time on them.
Social media has been used widely not only in our nation, but also the integral part of the
world. Social media can be easily defined as the term often used to refer to new forms of
media that involve interactive participation (Manning, 2014). Statistics reveal that adults
spent six hours approximately every day on social media, and often use multiple platforms at
the same time. According to the Statista website, the World’s most popular social platform is
Facebook which has 2.740 billion monthly active users, followed by YouTube which has
2.291 billion and third ranked social media with 2 billion monthly active users is WhatsApp
(Tankovska, 2021). According to research, Facebook users who use social media several
times a day consist of 18 to 48-year-old groups with women being more active compared to
men, by 6%. As for the YouTube users, they range from age 18 to 59 with less involvement
on this platform as age increases. Meanwhile, participants in Twitter activities range from
age 18 to 58 and lastly younger people engage more on Instagram activity since this
medium is mostly about posting photos (Hruska & Maresova, Use of Social Media Platforms
among Adults in the United States—Behavior on Social Media, 2020). The presence of
Facebook by Ex-Harvard student Marc Zuckerberg has contributed to the idea that people
enjoy being linked and sharing, exchanging their thought, opinion and wishes (Zeitel-Bank &
Tat, 2014). One of the factors for the popularity and success of social media is the ability to
receive, build and share public messages with a cheaper cost. Over the last decade, social
media has developed to become an essential catalyst for obtaining and disseminating
information in various domains including politics, business, crisis management, and
entertainment (Hruska & Maresova, Use of Social Media Platforms among Adults in the
United States—Behavior on Social Media, 2020). Despite its benefits, social media has a list
of problems and threats associated with it. The mainstream use of social media has given
effect on social well-being, social relationships, time available for sleep, school related study
and other activities. The high levels of media usage were positively associated with
individuals that have negative social well-being. It was discovered that people felt irritated
and fatigued at least sometimes or more often after spending time on Facebook mainly due
to envy of others’ happiness, the way they spend their vacations, and socialize (Zeitel-Bank
& Tat, 2014). Drawbacks of social media include loss of social contracts, information
overload and lack of security and major problem is internet addiction (Drahošová & Balco,
2017). Another major issue of social media is spreading of fake news by its users due to
addiction or they want to gain public attention. Another issue that has recently arisen in our
country is the spread of fake news in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic through social media
platforms (Choong, 2021). Social media is a powerful medium which has ability to spread
information, rumours and make it viral quicker than a speeding bullet. Just imagine if false
news spread in our nation, it will cause social unease and trigger mass panic among
Malaysians. Due to that, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said social media users
who intentionally spread rumours about the alleged negative effects of Covid-19 vaccines
online could face charges under the anti-fake news law (Choong, 2021). As a responsible
social media user, we should not practice those bad habits. Social media or technology
advancement are not to blame for the negative outcome since it depends on how we control
it. We should have high self-control to avoid addiction or any negative results due to social
media.

1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT

As mentioned before, interactive platform where it is used widely for years by people is
the definition of social media. Over past years social media has developed into a critical tool
for gathering and disseminating knowledge in a variety of fields, including finance, culture,
research, crisis management, and politics (Hruska & Maresova, Use of Social Media
Platforms among Adults in the United States—Behavior on Social Media, 2020). As the
various social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter that demonstrate,
social media serves a wide range of purposes. The dependence on social media among
people in countries are increasing year by year thus, could lead to addiction. Addiction of
social media covers all ages and type of people regardless demography especially during
Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, addiction to social media can also have a negative
impact on people's daily lives. User’s report decreased productivity as well as feelings of
isolation or anxiety (Cao, Gong, Yu, & Dai, Exploring the mechanism of social media
addiction: an empirical study from WeChat users, 2020). Too much dependence on social
media impacted all types of people including students, employers, and employees. However,
does this affect students’ lives and how can they control themselves? Therefore, these
questions have attracted this research to be conducted. In order to overcome the
dependence on social media self-control plays a core part. Many people say they have self-
control when it comes to their own use. Most people found that abstaining from social media
for four days was actually enjoyable (Grau, Kleiser, & Bright, 2018). The practices to control
include, increased self-talk, prevent access to social media, limit specific time use, focus on
other important commitments instead and many more. The importance of having self-control
from dependence on social media are such as helps boost the good self-behaviour, breaks
the comparison cycle, reduces self-exposure to radiation of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF)
that can cause headaches, anxiety, suicide fatigue and many more, less negativities and
providing space for self-improvement. Hence, the dependence on social media has negative
relationship with self-control. In short, the higher the self-control among students, the lower
the dependence on social media. This study hopes to examine the effect of self-control on
the use of social media among UiTM students.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.4.1 Main Research Question

What are the factors that can affect dependence on social media?

1.4.2 Specific Research Question

What is the relationship between self-control and dependence on social media?

1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1.5.1 Main Research Objective

To identify the factors affecting dependence on social media

1.5.2 Specific Research Objective

To examine the relationship between self-control and dependence on social media

1.6 SCOPE OF RESEARCH

This research is focus on the role of self-control towards the dependence on social media.
This research involves students from UiTM Bandaraya Melaka that will participate in this
study and will be asked to complete the questionnaires about self-report measures through
an online response platform. The questionnaires consist of information on demographic, the
types of social media that have been used, social media addiction scale, a self-control scale,
and the narcissistic personality disorder scale. The research process is estimated to take
about 2 months.
1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant to the students from UiTM Bandaraya Melaka. It is significant to
them since they have high dependency of using social media. Hence, students mostly spend
a lot of time using social media. Thus, they may encounter different kinds of problems
because the uses of social media are beyond their control and it could bring negative
impacts to them in terms of their mental and physical health such as having tired eyes
caused by focusing too long on the screen. Therefore, this study will help to highlight the role
of self-control towards dependence on social media. Other factors such as external
environment could also help them in order to increase self-control towards social media. For
example, the faculty management can spread awareness on how to stay healthy by
organizing an event or as simple as putting up a poster around the campus about the
importance of social media awareness. In this study, the aim is to find the role of self-control
towards the dependence of social media.

1.8 DEFINITION TERMS

For this research there are several terms that should be known as important parts
such as social media itself is the dependent variable where the phrase "social media" is
commonly used to refer to new kinds of media that entail interactive engagement (Manning,
2014). In other simple words, social media is a platform where interaction happen widely and
globally between individuals with different type of media being use. As for the independent
variable of this research can be referred to self-control where control can be defined as “The
ability to choose which of a person's wishes and intentions become successful in behaviour,
and to persist to that choice despite distractions and temptations,”. In this regard, ideas like
autonomy and willpower freedom are intrinsically related to self-control.” (Bermúdez, 2016).
In fact, social media also can be linked with ego depletion on which it defines the self-control
loss that might result from past effortful self-control exertion due to depletion of a finite self-
control resource, according to the model's hypothesis (Marleen, 2018). In other meaning,
self-control is an act where individual will control and choose things for himself or herself
intentionally to become better. Next, the term of EMF (Electromagnetic Field) refers to self-
exposures to radiation. Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are oscillating waves produced when
an electric current flow across an electric field. EMFs can be found in a variety of places,
including telecommunications antennae and mobile phones (Abuja, 2019). In short, this term
is referring to individual’s self-exposure to devices radiation due to overuse hence, can
cause several kind of diseases such as fatigue, suicide, headache and many more. In
addition, the term of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) that is link with the variables of
this research refers to disorders of cluster B personality, antisocial personality disorder,
borderline personality disorder, and histrionic personality disorder, all of which have the
characteristics of strong affect, theatricality, and unpredictability (Bates & Neff, 2017). In
easy meaning of this disorder is antisocial disorder where it is involved with several main
criteria which are, starting in early adulthood and manifesting in various areas of functioning,
an inflated and unrealistic sense of superiority, a desire for adulation, and an inability to
understand the sentiments of others. From this shows that, NPD is the term where it is one
of the causes if there is strong dependence on social media of the individuals.
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter focuses on the information of the current and past studies that could help in
conducting this study. It focuses on more literature review about social media addiction and
self-control. This chapter also consists of how both social media addiction and self-control
relate with each other and how it could affect one another. Furthermore, a research
framework will be developed to serve as a guide in this study. Combining all the previous
elements stated before, a hypothesis will be developed as an assumption based on social
media addiction and self-control that is going to be tested in this study.

2.2 DEPENDENT VARIABLE (SOCIAL MEDIA)

Internet has become the new superior means of communication and has created a massive
increase in the average content that we process every day. This is due to the rise of Web 2.0
which is the tendency to transform the Internet into a socially constructed medium by
allowing users themselves to generate their own content (Bermúdez, 2016). Our social
identities are at line with new wave of content delivered in many forms such as notification,
chats, social media comment or update.

With the rise of internet, it also boosts the usage of social media. Social media is an online
media where everyone at any age can join and link with others to share information and
communication. It is a collection of application that is powered by internet that enables the
creation and exchanging of contents made by its users. Indonesia has seen a big rise of
users from 150 million in 2019 to 160 million in 2020 alone. The highest age group that
makes up the number are teenagers from 13 years old to 18 years old (Bheo, Lerik, &
Wijaya, 2020).

Social media can be an addiction to some people. The activities are still ongoing even
though they have been proven to give negative consequences. Social media addiction can
be seen as a form of internet addiction, in which individuals show an urge to use social
media excessively (Bheo, Lerik, & Wijaya, 2020). There are students that has internet
addiction. These addictions will surely give them negative impacts on themselves, their
social relationships, and learning outcomes.

Clinicians also stressed that online addiction could disrupt everyday life and social
relationships (Błachnio & Przepiorka, 2016). Internationally, online addiction is a recognized
challenge for modern society. The talks of new wave of communication medium are not
something new. The great philosopher Plato was gravely concerned about profoundly
negative consequences of the great communication revolution of his age: writing (Bermúdez,
2016).

2.3 INDEPENDENT VARIABLE (SELF CONTROL)

Control refers to “The ability to choose which of a person's wishes and intentions become
effective in behaviour, and to stick to that choice despite distractions and temptations. In this
way, self-control is inextricably linked to concepts like autonomy and willpower freedom”
(Bermúdez, 2016). Hence, self-control is a step of one’s life in choosing what things that
should and should not avoid from doing or having which directly become a behaviour to
them. Moreover, self-control also is known as autonomy and freedom whereas there will be
legitimation on freedom since people can freely do and choose something that they can
control by themselves based on their own perspectives. Next, self-control also is known as
‘ego-depletion’ where it is defined as effortful. The most critical proposition from this
approach is the 'ego-depletion' phenomenon. Based on the model's theory that self-control is
effortful, ego depletion describes the self-control loss that can result from prior effortful self-
control exertion due to depletion of a finite self-control resource (Marleen, 2018). This
description contains the concept of effortful inhibition, but it goes further in emphasising the
self-control dilemma or dispute between a short-term, instantly gratifying choice (that must
be inhibited) and a longer-term, higher-reward option. Self-control is shown by the capacity
to forego an immediate benefit. Furthermore, self-control is related to the issue of
dependence on social media, where it gives negative relationship to the issue. When the
self-control is higher, the dependency of social media will be lower. Greater levels media use
are linked to lower capacity to screen out task-irrelevant stimuli, in addition to lower
academic success and self-control (Bermúdez, 2016). In order to achieve the success in
self-controlling one must apply one or more of the strategies which are, No strategy- little
need to control, No strategy- little motivation to control, Prevent access – full, Prevent
access – partial, Modify a feature on the device, Delimit a specific time of use, Self-talk and
Straightforward self-control (Brevers & Turel, 2019).

2.4 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DV AND IV

There is similar relationship between independent variable and dependent variable. Social
online networks can influence self-control. People may exhibit less self-control after
browsing a social network compared to not browsing a social network. Therefore, there is a
negative relationship between self-control and social network. Thus, the higher the self-
control, the lower the dependence on social networks. Besides, social network use can have
a harmful impact on well-being by causing some people to lose self-control, especially
among the current generation of adolescents and young adults, who are the most frequent
users of social networks (Zeitel-Bank & Tat, 2014). Next, a recent research found that
people were bad at practicing self-control after five minutes of browsing Facebook than after
five minutes of browsing CNN.com. Majority researchers believe that individuals who spend
lesser time on Facebook and other social media sites do so because they are better at self-
control and goal oriented. Therefore, we can conclude that there is a negative relationship
between social media and self-control. Thus, we know that high use of social media is linked
with lower levels self-control (Bermúdez, 2016). In addition, lack of self-control is found to be
predictor of Facebook addiction and people with a high degree of self-control can use the
Internet in a healthy manner. The hypothesis between these variables were largely
confirmed which shows that self-control will be negatively related to Facebook intrusion. To
sum up, the results found that people who have lower level of self-control will face high
problems with dysfunctional Facebook use (Błachnio & Przepiorka, 2016). Furthermore,
similar research also has been conducted in Anadolu University, Turkey. Individuals who
struggle to maintain self-control while using the Internet may experience psychological,
academic, and social problems. Uneducated Internet users are more likely to become
addicted to social media platforms because such irrational behaviour stems from a lack of
self-control. This study focusses on Facebook since this type of social media is quite
common among university students. All CEIT students reported that they strongly agreed
that there is a negative relationship between Facebook use and self-control. Facebook
content with distracting notifications, news, advertisements, videos, links, or visuals is the
most important explanation the students support negative relationship between independent
variable and dependent variable (Fırat, 2017). According to the study in an Indonesian
Institution, there is a significant relationship between self-control and social media addiction.
The finding of this study mention that the relationship between independent variable and
dependent variable is inversely proportional. Thus, it can be concluded that the lower the
self-control, the higher the social media addiction, or the higher one's self-control, the lower
the social media addiction (Bheo, Lerik, & Wijaya, 2020). From all the previous studies, it
can be concluded that there is negative relationship between self-control and dependence
on social media.
2.5 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESIS

2.5.1 Research Framework

Self-Control Dependence on social

media
(Independent variable
(IV)) (Dependence variable
(DV))

Figure 1: Research Framework

2.6 HYPOTHESIS

H1: There is negative relationship between self-control and dependence on social media.

2.7 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this chapter focus on the linked between dependent variable and independent
variable of this study which refers to social media and self-control. Based on the past
research paper that we found, it can be concluded that there is a negative relationship
between self-control and dependence on social media. Thus, the lower the self-control, the
higher the social media addiction, or vice versa which is the higher individual self-control, the
lower the social media addiction. Therefore, we choose it as our hypothesis in this research.
The next chapter will discuss on the research methodology which is related the research
design, population and sampling, data collection, questionnaire design and data analysis.
 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter will explain what method is used in conducting this study which will be included
the six elements of research design. Research design provides information to reduce the
uncertainty which help us to understand on how the nature of the problem influences the
choice of research method. Then, this chapter will include the population and sampling in
this study. Besides, the data collection will be discussed further. Other than that, we use the
questionnaire design in this study to collect the data and how these data will be analysed is
discussed at the end of this chapter.

3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN

There are six elements in research design which are purpose of the study, types of
investigation, extent of researcher interference, study setting, unit of analysis, and time
horizon. The first element is the purpose of this study. The study conducted is a descriptive
research that describes the characteristics of a population or phenomenon which is to study
the effect of self-control towards the dependence on social media. Next, the types of
investigation of this study is correlational relationship that explains about the two variables
which are the effect of self-control towards the dependence on social media that moves
simultaneously. Other than that, the extent of researcher interference is minimal as it
involves only the distribution of questionnaires to the respondents. Moreover, the study
setting of this study is non-contrived setting that leads to field study where surveys are done
and there is relationship testing between self-control and dependence on social media.
Besides, the unit of analysis of this study is individual and the data will be collected from
each person from the sample of this study as the self-control in each person is distinct from
others. Lastly, the time horizon for this study is cross sectional in which data is gathered only
once.

3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLING

Population refers to the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the
researcher wishes to investigate. In general, all students at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM)
Malacca City Campus were identified for this research study as the population. Basically,
UiTM Malacca has 2817 students with 2 faculties and variety of courses, including
International Business, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Office Management, and
Hotel & Tourism. Besides, our sample are among all semester 5 students at Universiti
Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Malacca City Campus of all courses. The sample size that has been
gathered for this research is a total of 127 respondents. In addition, for the sampling we use
judgement sampling method under non-probability type of sampling this is because
judgement sampling method is the suitable sampling to use for our research since the
respondents for this sampling were chosen based on their knowledge of the subject under
investigation or research.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION

Data collection method can be identified by the numerous techniques to gather, measure,
and analyse accurate study. This research used a quantitative approach where the survey
method is using self-administered questionnaire. We chose to conduct the research through
Internet survey since there is limitation to collect data through other methods due to open
distance learning classes for the time being to flatten Covid-19 pandemic curve. Internet
survey has several advantages such as geographical flexibility, lower cost, and provide
respondent convenience. We will create the survey through Google form platform and share
the links to each class representative and they will help to distribute the links to their
classmates via the WhatsApp group of classes. By using Google form, it is easier to analyse
the data collected. Furthermore, all semester 5 student of Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM)
Malacca City Campus will take part in this survey. In addition, after the researchers received
the responses from the respondents, the data will be recorded in Microsoft Excel.

3.5 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Section Variable No. of Scale Sources

questions
A Demographic 3 Nominal --
B Social Media 6 Likert Scale blocksurvey.io/calculator/social
Dependence (1-SD; 2-D; 3- media addiction questionnaire
N; 4-A; 5-SA)
C Self-control 5 Likert Scale (Du, Koningsbruggen, &
(1-SD; 2-D; 3- Kerkhof, 2018), (Brevers &
N; 4-A; 5-SA) Turel, 2019)

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

Analysis is the application of reasoning to understand about a subject. The procedure

of data analysis may involve determining consistent patterns and summarizing the
appropriate details revealed by the study. The process of data analysis begins after
 all data is obtained from the respondents. After the questionnaire collection was
completed, the data will be coded before it is analysed. The Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) for Windows was used to analyse the data and obtain
answers for the research questions. For this research, using SPSS for Windows,
researcher conducted the Reliability analysis, Descriptive Analysis, Frequency
Distribution Analysis, Correlation Analysis and Multiple Regression.

3.6.1 Frequency Distribution

The frequency distribution is used by researcher to understand the respondent

profiles which describes the frequency characteristics of the respondents. The
attributes of each category were analysed by using descriptive statistics which shows
frequencies and percentage.

3.6.2 Descriptive Analysis

Descriptive analysis is a summarization of the data set that indicates the basic
features of data in the research. The summary of the data or measures obtained can
be visualized through figures and graphical analysis. These descriptive statistics also
can be obtained by measure of central tendency such as the mean scores and as
well as the standard deviation. SPSS is used to analyse the data obtained from the
respondents. Table 3.2 shows the range of mean score level.

Table 3-2 Mean Score Level

Level Mean Score

Low 1.00 – 2.33

Moderate 2.34 – 3.67

High 3.68 – 5.00

Source: Sekaran & Bougie (2013)

3.5.3 Reliability Analysis

Reliability test is done with the purpose of checking whether the data obtained from
the survey is reliable or not for the study. The reliability of measures indicates the
extent to which it is without error and hence ensures consistent measurement across
time and across the various items in the instrument.
 Cronbach’s alpha tests to see if multiple-questions based on the Likert scale are
reliable. There were certain variables that are very difficult to measure. Thus, the
Cronbach’s alpha test will tell the researcher if the test that they have designed is
accurately measuring the variable of interest.

Table 3-3 Cronbach’s Alpha

Cronbach’s Alpha Internal Consistency

α ≥ 0.9 Excellent

0.9 > α ≥ 0.8 Good

0.8 > α ≥ 0.7 Acceptable

0.7 > α ≥ 0.6 Questionable

0.6 > α ≥ 0.5 Poor

0.5 > α Unacceptable

Source: Invalid source specified.

3.6.4 Pearson Correlation Coefficient

Pearson correlation coefficient is used to measure the direction, strength and

significance of association among all the variables in the study.

Table 3.4 shows the interpretation of the Pearson’s correlation coefficient that shows
the strength of association that exists between each independent variable and
dependent variable.

Table 3.6.3: Pearson’s Correlation

R Strength of Relationship

< 0.20 Almost negligible

0.20 – 0.39 Low correlations; definite but small relationship

0.40 – 0.69 Moderate correlation with; substantial relationship

0.70 – 0.89 High correlation; marked relationship

>0.90 Very high correlation; very dependable relationship

Source: Guilford’s Law (1973)

3.6.5 Multiple Regression Analysis

Multiple regression indicates the relationship whether the independent variables are
able to affect/influence the dependent variable. Besides that, it will show which
independent variable are had the strongest influence on the independent variable.
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and-Zeitel-Bank-Tat/1c41296135b40c13876bda4f0271d53916321439
APPENDIX 1

FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS.) HUMAN RESOURCE

MANAGEMENT (BA2435C)

Dependence on Social Media

Dear Respondent

We are final year undergraduate students from Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons)
Human Resource Management, Faculty of Business and Management, Universiti Teknologi
MARA, Kampus Bandaraya Melaka.

As a part of our course requirement, we are currently conducting a survey for Research
Methodology (MGT 648), regarding Dependence on Social Media. This issue is a current
one as more people are dependent and even addicted to social media. It has recently
become worse due to the restrictions in movement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In view of the above, we kindly invite you to participate in this study by completing the
attached questionnaire survey. Please keep in mind that there is no right or wrong answers
and your response is based on your own perception or experience. There is neither any
compensation for responding nor is there any known risk. The information that you provide
will only be used for academic purposes and will remain strictly confidential.

Your insightful responses to our questionnaires are greatly appreciated and will be of
substantial value to us. If you have any difficulties during answering the questions, please do
not hesitate to ask for assistance and clarification.

Thank you for your utmost cooperation.

Class Rep BA2435C Lecturer: Dr Rachel Samuel

Name: Azrul Shah Bin Azman

Contact No: +60 176646825

SECTION A: SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Please tick (√) only ONE response

1. Gender

1 Male
2 Female

2. Course

1 Human Resource
(BA243)
2 International Business
(BA246)
3 Finance (BA242)
4 Office Management
System (BA232)
5 Marketing (BA240)
6 Tourism (HM241)

3. Semester/Part

1 Part 1
2 Part 2
3 Part 3
4 Part 4
5 Part 5
6 Part 6
Section B: Dependence on Social Media

Please tick (√) the most appropriate response to the statements below

1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree (SD) Disagree (D) Neutral (N) Agree (A) Strongly Agree (SA)

SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I often think about social media when I am not using it

2 I often use social media for no particular reason

3 I interrupt whatever I am doing when I feel the need to

access social media

4 I feel connected to others when I use social media

5 I have been unable to reduce my social media use

6 I lose track of how much I am using social media

Section C: Factors associated with dependence on social media

Please tick (√) the most appropriate response to the statements below

1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree (SD) Disagree (D) Neutral (N) Agree (A) Strongly Agree (SA)

I Depression SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I have experienced low mood in the recent past,
because of my online public social media activity
2 I posted social media content reflective of my true state
of mind when I feel low

3 Social media affect my wellbeing

4 I feel sad after checking my social media

5 I have lost interest in all things that were important to

me once upon a time

II Peer Pressure SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I always check my social media to see posting from my
peers.

2 Perception by peers is important to me through the

social media like Instagram.

3 Sometimes I feel down with my peers.

4 Peer pressure is the factor that influences me in social

media.

5 Peer pressure can lead to cybervictimization in social

media.

III Self-Control SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I have difficulty controlling the amount of time I spend
on social media

2 I often desire to use social media even though I know it

makes me use my time less efficiently
3 I always use social media even though I have other
tasks to do at that moment such as study or work

4 I check my phone before finishing important tasks

5 I use social media instead of engaging with people

IV Self-Esteem SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I am more comfortable by my own while on social
media than in the real life.

2 The number of followers I have on social media tells me

how important I am.

3 I feel down when I receive negative comments on social

media.

4 I feel great when getting a high number of likes on

social media.

5 I feel life is worthwhile when I feel happy with social

media.

V Fear of Missing Out (FoMo) SD D N A SA

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I get anxious when I don't know what my friends are up
to.

2 I would feel stressed if I lost my friends/followers in

social media

3 I feel compelled to check my social media more often to

keep up to date on my friends’ plans and activities
4 I use social media to reduce my feeling of loneliness

5 I fear that I am not liked by my friends

VI Perceived Stress SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I always think about social media even when I am not
using it

2 I have unsuccessfully tried to limit my social media use

3 I frequently check social media to see if I have

received a new message.

4 I spend little time with friends or family because I use

social media very often.

5 I often neglect other activities to use social media

VII Anxiety SD D N A SA
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
1 I become restless or troubled if I have been prohibited
from using social networking sites.

2 I often feel nervous, anxious, or on edge.

3 I often feel not being able to stop or control worrying.

4 I often worry too much about different things

5 I often feel afraid as if something awful might happen

Thank you very much for your cooperation and support. We really appreciate it.