Social media addiction and academic procrastination among high school students

Adicción a redes sociales y procrastinación académica en estudiantes de educación secundaria

Abstract

Objective: To assess the prevalence of social media addiction and academic procrastination among students, as well as to analyze the relationship between these two variables within this population. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, descriptive, and correlational study with a non-experimental, cross-sectional design. The population consisted of 1,453 secondary school students from a public educational institution in a province located in the San Martín Region, Peru. The sample comprised 807 students. Results: A total of 807 students of both sexes participated, with a median age of 14 years (IQR: 3, Q1: 13, Q3: 16, Range: 12–17 years). Regarding the risk of social media addiction, 74% (n=587) of the students showed no risk, while 5.5% (n=44) exhibited a very high risk. Addiction was mainly associated with the use of Facebook (p=0.012), Instagram (p=0.003), WhatsApp (p=0.040), and TikTok (p=0.017). Of the sample, 24.3% (n=196) reported a high level of procrastination. Associated factors included academic grade level (p=0.001) and the absence of a father figure (p=0.003). A significant association was found between social media addiction and the level of academic procrastination (p<0.001). Conclusions: Social media addiction and academic procrastination are prevalent issues among. secondary school students. Moreover, there is a significant association between the level of social media addiction and academic procrastination. Promoting the responsible use of social media is recommended to prevent students from postponing their academic responsibilities. Keywords: Technology Addiction; Internet Addiction Disorder; Procrastination; Students; Peru (Source: MeSH, NLM).