Social Media: Impact on the behavioural aspect of the Millenials

Abstract

Purpose Present research paper explores the relationship between the social mediaobsession, addiction to smart phones, disconnect from real relationships and increasing virtual communication.

 Design/ methodology/ approach The notion presented in this paper was developed based on a comprehensivereview of literature, subsequently confirming it in context of students. 202 university students enrolled in professional courses in private colleges of Delhi NCR were administered to an online survey form. For confirming the factors namely addiction to smart phones (Nomo phobia), disconnect with real relationships, obsession and virtual communication, a Confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Further, their relationships were studied using structural equation modeling in AMOS.

 Findings The results and findings in the present paper indicate that the proposed structure has an overall good model fitand all three hypotheses were significant. The study therefore establish that obsession of social media has significant impact on addiction to smart phones, disconnect with real relationship, and virtual communication.

 Originality/ value Present study is a work performed to explore the constant need of todays generationto feel more connected with their smart phones and disconnected with the real world around them. This paper suggest that creating awareness and monitoring the social media usage patterns of Gen Y, can enhance their social behaviour which is evidently lacking in the youth of today.

 Keywords Social Media, Behavioural, Millenials, Addiction, Obsession

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