Effect of social media on mental health: A cross-generational observation

Diksha, Diksha and Attri, Varinder Kaur (2025) Effect of social media on mental health: A cross-generational observation. World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 14 (2). pp. 224-227. ISSN 2582-8266

The impact of social media on mental health has been widely debated, with particular focus on its role in deteriorating mental well-being among younger generations. Since the advent of Web 2.0 in 1999, attention spans have significantly decreased—from 12 seconds in millennials to just 8.25 seconds in Gen Z by 2015, a figure now shorter than that of a goldfish. This may become a very alarming issue with the proliferation of Web 3.0 and highly sophisticated algorithms of social media platforms. It presents research on how India's increase in cases of mental disorders is interrelated with increased internet usage on social media. There are 104 respondents to give data with the aid of a questionnaire that has proven to be compact and reflective across generations.