Impact of Social Media Dependency on Social Anxiety Among

Chinese College Students

Linhui Lu

School of Culture and Communication, Huangshan University, Huangshan, Anhui, China

Keywords: Social Media Dependency, Social Anxiety, Chinese College Students.

Abstract: In the era of mobile internet, various social functional applications are subtly influencing people’s

psychological states and emotional patterns. While Chinese college students enjoy the convenience and

benefits brought by social media, their excessive reliance on social media and mobile communication devices

for online social interactions has impacted their self-identity value standards, created a sense of ‘disconnection’

from reality, and increased social anxiety in their real-life interactions. This paper reviews and discusses the

influencing factors of social media, such as family relationships and personality traits, as well as the impact

of social media dependency on social anxiety. Furthermore, it proposes relevant interventions to alleviate

social anxiety and enhance the psychological resilience of college students.

1 INTRODUCTION

In the era of mobile internet, various functional

applications have emerged, among which social

functional software such as Weibo, WeChat, TikTok,

and Red Note are subtly influencing people’s

psychological states and emotional patterns. As an

online interactive intermediary, users can share their

life, emotions and even personal privacy at any time.

It serves as a platform for self-expression, making

friends, and alleviating loneliness (Yang et al., 2023).

However, the distorted information about others on

social media can prevent individuals from objectively

and accurately understanding and evaluating

themselves, which may lead to psychological issues

(Huo et al., 2024). While Chinese college students

enjoy the “benefits” brought by the convenience of

social media, their excessive reliance on social media

and mobile communication devices for online

interactions has affected their self-identity value

standards, created a sense of “disconnection” from

reality, and increased social anxiety in their real-life

interactions. The Healthy China Strategy represents

the latest achievement in China’s theoretical research

on health development in the new era, providing the

most up-to-date guidance for research and practice in

school mental health education (Pang, 2023). Within

the framework of the Healthy China Strategy,

“health” encompasses not only physical health but

also mental health (Pang, 2023). The author explores

the relationship between social media dependency

and social anxiety, seeking answers as to why social

media dependency leads to psychological issues

among college students and uncovering the

underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, the author

proposes strengthening interventions for the

psychological issues of college students, guiding

them to actively seek psychological treatment and

reduce or overcome the degree of social anxiety. This

article focuses specifically on college students,

providing a detailed discussion on the problem of

social anxiety caused by their excessive reliance on

social media.

2 INTRODUCTION TO THE KEY

CONCEPTS

Social media is a new type of social interaction

service platform based on the internet (Sun et al.,

2016), a content production and exchange platform

built on user relationships. It serves social groups and

aims to help people share information, enhance

communication, and promote emotional connections

within a social network. Social media dependency

refers to an individual’s excessive enthusiasm for

developing online social relationships and

overreliance on social media, leading to impairments

in their psychological and social functioning (Sun et

al., 2014, Zhao, 2021). Existing research on college

Lu, L.

Impact of Social Media Dependency on Social Anxiety among Chinese College Students.

DOI: 10.5220/0013998800004912

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Inter national Conference on Innovative Education and Social Development (IESD 2025), pages 431-437

ISBN: 978-989-758-779-5

431

students’ social media dependency primarily focuses

on two aspects: the degree of dependency and the

motivations behind it. In terms of the degree of social

dependency, Wu Yanan took WeChat as an example

to study college students’ usage of the platform. The

study found that the longer the WeChat usage time,

the higher the degree of WeChat dependency. The

study also revealed that college students were

generally aware of the negative impacts brought

about by social media dependency (Wu & Li, 2015).

Excessive reliance on social media can lead to issues

such as deteriorating vision, declining physical

fitness, lack of face-to-face communication skills,

and reduced efficiency in learning and work. In terms

of dependency motivation, college students’

motivations are primarily centered on seeking social

satisfaction, alleviating offline social anxiety, and

obtaining information and entertainment.

Social anxiety is an emotional experience

characterized by discomfort, unease, or even fear

during interactions with others. Research on the

causes of social anxiety has found that it occurs when

individuals wish to make a good impression on others

but believe they are unable to perform well enough.

College students’ dependency on social media can

exacerbate psychological issues in real life, such as

emotional anxiety, academic anxiety, and social

anxiety. For some college students, the internet has

increased and strengthened their daily interactions

with peers. However, for others, it has become a

means of escapism. These students find it difficult to

express themselves, often feel lonely, and become

distanced from reality (Zhang & Wang, 2022). They

rely on the social environment provided by the

internet, enjoying the pleasures of the virtual world

and seeking likeminded friends on social media

platforms (Zhang & Wang, 2022). Over time, they

may gradually lose the ability to engage with the real

external world, leading to social anxiety.

3 INFLUENCING FACTORS OF

SOCIAL MEDIA DEPENDENCY

3.1 The Impact of Family Relationships

on Social Media Dependency

This section will discuss the typical family

relationship—between parents and adolescents—

which is closely associated with adolescent

development.

Bilgin et al. conducted a survey on adolescent

social media addiction and parent-child relationships,

collecting a sample of 583 adolescents, including 218

males and 365 females. The study utilized the Social

Media Disorder Scale (SMDS) and the Parent-

Adolescent Relationship Questionnaire (PARQ) for

data collection. The Social Media Disorder Scale,

developed by Van Den Eijnden et al. In 2016, was

created based on the diagnostic criteria for internet

gaming addiction outlined in the unrecognized and

exploratory diagnostic section of DSM5 (Bligin et al.,

2020). The reliability of the scale was confirmed by

the researchers using Cronbach’s alpha (0.82),

indicating good internal consistency. Based on the

Behavioral Family Systems Approach, Robin, Moye,

and Koepke (1990) developed the Parent-Adolescent

Relationship Questionnaire (PARQ) (Bligin et al.,

2020). This questionnaire primarily consists of three

dimensions: the structure and function of the family

system, problem-solving communication skills, and

cognitive/internalized beliefs. It includes both

adolescent and parent versions as parallel forms.

Since the study focused on social media addiction

from the adolescent’s perspective, only the adolescent

version was used. The adolescent version contains

284 items across 24 subscales. With a Cronbach’s

Alpha internal consistency coefficient of 0.93, it can

be concluded that the questionnaire demonstrates

good reliability.

During the research phase, Bilgin conducted a

standard multiple linear regression analysis, using

parametric statistical methods to analyze the data and

examine correlations between variables to determine

whether the parent-adolescent relationship

contributes to social media addiction. The researchers

assessed whether the study data led to

multicollinearity issues by examining the correlations

between variables, as well as the VIF (Variance

Inflation Factor) and tolerance values. The study

found that adolescent social media addiction had the

lowest correlation with perfectionism and the highest

correlation with global distress and perceived

unfairness. In the standard regression analysis, the

data results were valid and convincing. Among the

variables, the most significant and influential factor

for social media addiction was the overall distress

within the family.

This research findings indicate that, in Turkey,

mothers take on more responsibility for educating

their children compared to fathers. Mothers are more

concerned about adolescents’ academic performance

and daily lives. To mitigate the negative influences of

school and society on adolescents, mothers tend to

exercise stricter control over them. This increases

conflicts between adolescents and their mothers,

which may lead to a sense of avoidance in

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adolescents. They may seek comfort or relief from

negative emotions through other means, with the use

and dependence on social media becoming one of the

primary outlets for emotional expression.

Adolescents aspire to lead independent and

autonomous lives, but parents often view key aspects

such as life, learning, choice of friends, dating, and

the significant matter of marriage as too significant to

be left entirely to the adolescents’ discretion. Parents

tend to want these aspects to remain within their

control, leading to more conflicts with adolescents

who seek full autonomy over their studies and

personal lives.

The findings obtained in the study and the

revealed relationship between parent-child

relationships and social media addiction were based

solely on the adolescent version of the questionnaire,

with data collected exclusively from adolescents. The

parent version of the questionnaire was not used,

resulting in incomplete data collection.

3.2 Impact of Different Personality

Traits on The Degree of

Dependency on Social Media

Dumlupınar University conducted a survey study to

investigate how user personality factors and social

media interact. To enhance the accuracy and

scientific rigor of the results, the researchers utilized

three major questionnaires: the Five-Factor

Personality Model (McCrae & Costa, 1987), the

Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons,

Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), and the Social Media

Marketing Activities Scale (Kim & Ko, 2011). The

Five-Factor Personality Traits include openness to

experience, conscientiousness, extraversion,

agreeableness, and neuroticism. Using a random

sampling method, the survey was distributed to 503

students from one of the university’s faculties, with

participants aged between 18 and 25 years. Out of the

580 questionnaires distributed, a total of 503 qualified

survey responses were received, supporting the

subsequent statistical research and data analysis. In

the survey study, the researchers used a 5point Likert

scale for rating (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly

agree) (Nihan & Burcu, 2013). The Cronbach’s α

value was 0.759 for the personality traits scale, 0.830

for the social media scale, and 0.760 for the life

satisfaction scale. Based on these alpha values, the

researchers determined that the scales demonstrated

good reliability.

The study reached important conclusions through

correlation analysis. Different personality traits can

influence social media usage patterns, and individuals

with different personality traits exhibit varying levels

of dependency on social media. When an individual

has high levels of neuroticism, their emotions tend to

be more unstable, higher psychological stress, and

elevated anxiety levels. To escape negative emotions,

they are more likely to rely on the virtual world

provided by social media as a means of seeking

emotional solace. Conscientious individuals, those

with a positive attitude toward experiences, and

people satisfied with their current lives tend to use

social media to support their learning and daily lives.

This also highlights the positive impact of social

media on individuals.

The limitations are quite evident: the participants

in the study were university students from a single

faculty at Dumlupınar University within the same age

group. The survey sample size is relatively narrow,

and the findings may only represent this specific

university or the situation in Turkey.

Roos used Swedish internet users as the survey

sample, consisting of a representative study of the

Swedish population aged 16 to 85. The researchers

explored and analyzed social media usage among

Swedes based on the Five-Factor Personality Model.

The researchers conducted a hierarchical

regression analysis on the Five-Factor Personality

Traits and social media usage (Roos, 2023). The

study revealed that frequent social media usage was

predicted by high openness to experience and

extraversion, as well as a lower level of

conscientiousness, with no significant correlation

with age or gender. The researchers speculated that

the more pronounced the traits of high openness to

experience, extraversion, and low conscientiousness,

the stronger the individual’s need for social media,

which may lead to a greater dependency on it.

4 THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL

MEDIA DEPENDENCY ON

COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SOCIAL

ANXIETY

Zhan Yating conducted a survey on college students,

focusing on the usage and dependency on social

media, real-life social interactions, and the impact of

social media usage and dependency on college

students’ real-life social interactions (Zhang, 2020).

The study targeted college students (including

master’s students) from various universities,

academic years, and genders in Shanghai, with

stratified sampling to enhance the representativeness

and diversity of the survey sample. The College

Impact of Social Media Dependency on Social Anxiety among Chinese College Students

433

Students’ Interpersonal Communication Barrier Scale

comprises three dimensions: social anxiety, social

loneliness, and social incompetence. This scale

demonstrates high reliability and validity, providing

valuable support for the researchers’ subsequent

studies.

The researchers primarily used a questionnaire

survey method, employing the College Students’

Mobile Social Media Dependency Scale and the

College Students’ Interpersonal Communication

Barrier Scale for the study. The College Students’

Mobile Social Media Dependency Scale was

developed by Wu Zuhong in 2014, originally

consisting of 33 items (later revised to include 22

items in the adapted version). The scale includes five

dimensions: salience (7 items), social enhancement (7

items), compulsivity (6 items), conflict (6 items), and

withdrawal (7 items). Each question is a single-choice

item. The overall questionnaire had a Cronbach’s

alpha coefficient of 0.937 and a split-half reliability

coefficient of 0.925. The result indicated that the

questionnaire has good reliability.

To measure college students’ interpersonal

communication barriers, the study used the

Interpersonal Communication Barrier Scale

developed by Liu Xin and Xu Guangxing. The scale

also demonstrated high reliability (0.80) and validity.

It consists of three dimensions: social loneliness,

social anxiety, and social incompetence, along with a

total score for interpersonal communication barriers.

A series of studies yielded the following results:

1. Social media dependency has a

significant positive impact on loneliness. Therefore,

it can be concluded that the heavier the dependency

on social media among college students, the greater

their social loneliness.

2. Social media dependency has a

significant positive impact on social anxiety. Thus, it

can be inferred that the more severe the social media

dependency, the more intense the real-life social

anxiety experienced by college students.

3. Regression analysis was conducted on

social media dependency and interpersonal

communication skills. The p-value for interpersonal

communication skills was 0.002, less than 0.05, and

the beta value was 1.893, indicating that social media

dependency has a significant negative impact on

interpersonal communication skills. Consequently, it

can be concluded that the more severe the social

media dependency in this group, the weaker their

real-life social skills.

Social media has become an integral part of

college students’ daily work, study, and life,

providing convenient services and abundant

information to this demographic. On one hand, social

media provides convenience for their daily activities:

it facilitates information exchange for work, serves as

a source of knowledge for learning, and offers

opportunities for leisure and entertainment in

everyday life. On the other hand, due to its

convenience and efficiency, social media has made

people overly reliant on it, reducing their interaction

with the real world. This overreliance significantly

weakens people’s ability to observe and understand

the world, creating a sense of “isolation” from reality.

This detachment is not aligned with the normal

processes of social production and development and

increases individuals’ anxiety in real-life situations.

The study also has certain limitations. Firstly, due

to time and cost constraints, the researchers used

online surveys to collect data, making the research

methodology overly simplistic. The study collected

232 valid questionnaires, which represents a

relatively small sample size. Secondly, the research is

limited in terms of its subjects, as the respondents

were primarily concentrated within seven universities

located in the Songjiang District of Shanghai. In

addition, there are shortcomings in the questionnaire

design. Many respondents reported that, although the

questionnaire was detailed and featured diverse

question types, the excessive number of questions

made it easy for participants to lose patience while

completing it.

Zhang Yuhan conducted a study on social anxiety

in the context of new media, using WeChat and

Weibo as examples, focusing on the relationship

between the degree of social anxiety and social media

usage. The researcher selected college students as the

study subjects and employed a combination of

questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. A total

of 390 valid questionnaires were collected, and 12

students were selected for ind-epth interviews.

The researcher selected typical social media

platforms, Weibo and WeChat, as the subjects of the

study. For the measurement of each indicator, a five-

point Likert scale was used. The questionnaire

structure consisted of four parts: the title, instructions,

the main body, and the closing statement. The main

body of the questionnaire: The first section focused

on demographic information and basic social media

usage. The second section included four scales:

Social Media Dependency (SMD), Social Anxiety

(SA), Social Media Self-Presentation, and Online

Interaction Anxiety (SASMU), which comprised four

subscales: Sharing Content Anxiety (SCA), Privacy

Concern Anxiety (PCA), Interaction Anxiety (IA),

and Self-Evaluation Anxiety (SEA) (Zhang, 2019).

Regarding the measurement tools for college

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students’ social anxiety in online social interactions,

the researchers introduced the Social Anxiety Scale

for Social Media Users (SASSMU) developed by

scholar Yunus. SPSS 22.0 software was used to

calculate the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient to examine

the internal consistency of the scales used in the

study. All Cronbach’s alpha values for the variables

were above 0.8, indicating that the scales

demonstrated strong reliability (Zhang, 2019).

The analysis results showed that social media

dependency, social anxiety, and online social anxiety,

along with specific factors, have a significant positive

correlation (P < 0.01) (Zhang, 2019). The research

results confirm that, firstly, in the era of the internet,

college students with lower levels of social anxiety

tend to make more friends online compared to those

with higher levels of social anxiety. Secondly,

uncertainty generates anxiety. The uncertainty in

online interactions, such as the ambiguity in text

expression and emoticons, can cause confusion and

increase social anxiety. Thirdly, the alienation of

online communication. Social media platforms like

WeChat and Weibo, which are intended to assist

communication, have penetrated various aspects of

users’ lives. They gradually shift from being a tool to

becoming dominant, leading to excessive use of

social media. This results in information overload and

confusion, with users gradually losing the rationality

of their social interactions.

The content analysis of the interviews revealed

that: First, although social media breaks the

limitations of time and space, offering convenience to

users, the emotional exchange and information

transmission established in virtual spaces are unable

to fulfill the sense of identity between the individuals

involved. The interpersonal relationships in virtual

environments are weak connections and struggle to

form stable, meaningful relationships. Second, the

expectations for one’s role have increased. In online

social media, people are influenced by various

ideologies and set higher standards for their own

persona. The degree of self-idealization has

increased, and this behavior significantly impacts the

anxiety of the individual in the real world, with

notable negative effects. Third, the contradiction and

ambiguity of communication effects are enhanced. In

a “vacuum environment,” individuals have different

self-perceptions, which leads to varying levels of

message reception and understanding, as well as

differences in the way information is transmitted and

expressed. Under the influence of multiple uncertain

factors, the uncertainty during communication

increases, leading to a rise in anxious emotions.

There are also limitations in the study. First, the

research only focused on the social anxiety of users

on two major social media platforms, Weibo and

WeChat. However, there are many other social media

platforms that influence college students’ social

anxiety, each with different effects. Secondly, the

survey sample had a higher proportion of female

participants, accounting for 65.9% of the total

sample. Due to a certain gender imbalance in the

sample size, it may not fully reflect the differences in

social anxiety within the college student population to

some extent.

Cao Guanghai and others studied the impact of

social media dependency on college students’ online

social anxiety. The results revealed that rumination

and fear of missing out (FoMO) act as mediating

variables, influencing the relationship between social

media dependency and online social anxiety (Cao et

al., 2023). The findings showed that the higher the

degree of social media dependency among college

students, the stronger their rumination tendencies,

leading to higher levels of online social anxiety.

Similarly, the greater the dependency on social

media, the higher the level of fear of missing out,

which also contributes to increased online social

anxiety. This study highlights the complex and

diverse mechanisms underlying the relationship

between social media dependency and online social

anxiety in college students (Cao et al., 2023).

5 DISCUSSION AND

SUGGESTION

Social media dependency has a significant positive

predictive effect on college students’ social anxiety:

the higher the level of social media dependency, the

higher the level of social anxiety among college

students; conversely, the lower the level of social

media dependency, the lower the level of social

anxiety. At the same time, factors such as individual

family relationships, personality traits, and

technology dependency also influence the degree of

social anxiety exhibited by college students due to

their social media dependency.

Excessive reliance on social media can exacerbate

college students’ social anxiety both in the virtual

world and in real life. As students become more

dependent on social media, this overdependence

increases their social anxiety in real-life interactions,

leading them to avoid reality and even fear or be

anxious about communicating and interacting with

others in the real world, causing them to immerse

Impact of Social Media Dependency on Social Anxiety among Chinese College Students

435

themselves in the virtual world. However, the

uncertainty of information and the ambiguity of text

expressions in the virtual world can increase college

students’ online social anxiety, creating a vicious

cycle. The author believes that reducing college

students’ dependence on social media and alleviating

their social anxiety requires joint efforts from various

parties.

The author offers the following suggestions:

1. College students should practice self-

discipline and self-reflection, balancing online

communication with offline interactions. They should

establish “digital boundaries” and manage their time

effectively (Zhang, 2020).

2. College students should be proactive in

recognizing their own psychological changes and

seek help from peers, teachers, parents, or doctors

when needed.

3. Universities should pay close attention to

college students’ mental health issues and strengthen

guidance on psychological problems.

4. Universities should actively organize

offline activities with unique features to increase

students’ exposure to the real world.

5. Universities should update their

teaching philosophies and integrate holistic education

(Zhang, 2020).

This study only employed a literature review

method to investigate the impact of social media

dependency on college students’ social anxiety. Due

to the large number of available studies, the author

was unable to conduct indepth analysis of every

individual article, which limits the findings of the

research. In the future, the author will further explore

how social media dependency affects college

students’ social anxiety, potentially involving the

roles of various mediating variables such as

psychological factors, family factors, personality

traits, and technological dependency. By examining

the impacts of different social media platforms, age

groups, genders, and purposes on social anxiety, as

well as the associations between social media

dependency and other mental health issues (e.g.,

depression, low self-esteem), the research findings

can be applied to college students’ mental health

education and practices. The author aims to develop

targeted mental health education programs, provide

psychological counseling, and offer support services

to help college students establish healthy social media

usage habits, alleviate symptoms of social anxiety,

and improve their mental health and quality of life.

Future studies will also need to further evaluate the

effectiveness of mental health education programs,

psychological counseling, and support services in

promoting college students’ mental health and

practical outcomes.

6 CONCLUSION

In the digital era, online social media has provided

college students with new ways of living and

learning, offering them more opportunities and

avenues for development. However, the complexity

of information in the age of big data has also

presented new challenges for the college student

population. While social media provides college

students with abundant information and convenient

online communication, excessive and frequent

reliance on social media can lead to various

psychological issues, such as academic anxiety,

emotional anxiety, social anxiety, and more.

Excessive focus on others’ updates, evaluations, and

feedback, as well as holding negative self-

assessments about one’s own performance on social

media, can easily lead to the development of social

anxiety among college students. The college student

group should actively accept external interventions

and treatment, while also cultivating healthy social

media usage habits.

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