Abstract:

The present finding aimed at studying “Usage of Social Media Applications and Social Interaction Patterns among Teenagers”. Keeping in view the major concepts of the study, Uses and Gratification theory and Dependency theory is applied. In the current study, data were collected from the students of schools and colleges through the survey research method. A well-designed questionnaire is used for data collection. A purposive convenient sampling technique is used. A sample of 400 students is selected. The analysis of findings reveals that teenagers more frequently use WhatsApp (81%). Teenagers like Education-related content on social media applications (66%). The findings also reveal that teenagers agree that the use of social media applications has reduced Indoor Activities (79%). A correlation test is applied. The hypothesis of the study is that there is a negative relationship between times of using social media applications with content liking on social media applications. Times of using social media applications are negatively correlated with the reduction of Indoor Activities, Offline Friendship, Outdoor Activities and Sports.

Key Words

Social media applications, Social Interaction Patterns, Teenagers, Uses and        Gratification Theory and Media Dependency Theory.

Introduction

Social Media Applications always has a part of our civilization, and it is also a part of our faith, and it is a method of spreading our networks by making links to each other (Sawyer and Chen, 2012). The effect of these Applications and the research on modern sociology has totally altered the background of social links from facing to the online network. The beginning of these applications and the rising use of these applications, for example, Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Whatsapp and Youtube, have become a worldwide fact of the last century and have totally changed the methods of Communication (Bargh and McKenna and Fitzsimons, 2002).

As regards as the influence of Social Media Applications are connected, yet they have put their cooperation in lowering the space between friends and families, their negative consequences just like Promotion to unnecessary contacts, offensive messages, molestation, Chasing, Intimidation, easy approachability to private information, and their time-spending nature should not be brush aside (Ellison and Steinfield and Lampe, 2007).

Teenagers have enclosed these applications much more than the elder people so that they get in touch with their companions; they tell their information, they reincarnate their nature, and show their lives as socially (Guedes and Nardi and Guimarães and Machado and King, 2018).

The teenagers pass their free time by working on computers, and they are unable to tell their emotions to their parents and companions; in fact, they upload their feelings on their status. And in this way, they have no idea what’s happening around the globe. When these things are not present, they start to languish for it, and sometimes they become the victims of the unethical enterprise (Kshirsagar and Kulkarni, 2015).

Amid the huge range of networked gadget which is convenient for contacts, social media applications like Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, Whatsapp and Youtube are the most current and interesting gadgets for linking people throughout the globe (Aghazamani, 2010).

Facebook is one of the biggest social media applications, and it became so popular, especially among teenagers, that it depicted many other traditional characteristics of the community. Teenagers who are the heaviest users of Facebook can upload their ideas, messages and images and tag them to their friends and family. The teenagers use Facebook to do contact their old schoolfellows. Teenagers make new relations and make new friends, or it also creates a way to unroll the applications of Facebook, which include games and quizzes (Boyd & Ellison, 2007).




Literature Review

A literature review is thought to be the principal part of the examination fill in as it enables the specialist to get the important prior looks into about his exploration contemplate from the web and other significant sources. The critical purpose of the present examination was to decide “Usage of social media applications and social interaction patterns among teenagers of Sargodha city”.

According to Ali (2016), Social media applications are fastly getting a topic of debate from the education point of view across the whole world globe. The present study was designed to analyze the influences of social media applications on teenagers in current Pakistan, especially concentrate on the modification in family relationships. The quantitative research methodology is used in this study, and the investigators used the method of the survey in this study to gather data. For data collection purpose, International Islamic University is selected because their students are huge users of these applications. In this research, the respondents are the students of Masters Level, and they are 175. The students were chosen by the method of Random sampling technique and stratified sampling technique. Their findings are that 94% of students admitted that the more use of these applications influences negatively on family relationships. They have observed that they feel loneliness, and they feel like strangers in relatives, friends and family, and also, they feel strangers from themselves. And this shows that they have shy and reserved personalities. With regards to the findings, it was observed that the excessive use of social media applications among teenagers is deducing the relationship of the teenagers with their family members, and they totally altered the values of the youth.

Saleem and Malik et al. (2014) researched that the use of social media applications affects teenagers Liaison with their real-life relations. The basic aim of this research is to explore if the more use of these applications produces loneliness between the teenagers from their close relations like family, friends, and colleagues etc.  By raising their close connection with outsiders. For this purpose, the survey method was used. 306 Pakistani teenagers are selected for this purpose. The findings show that there is a strong link between the time spent on social media applications and loneliness. The people who more use social media applications feel more loneliness. Social media applications were used for the purpose of interaction for making strong relationships.  

According to Vitak and Marie (2008), Teenagers have more access to internet usage, and they more use social media applications. As indicated by Lenhart et al. (2010), In the United States, people more use the internet, and they make their account on at least one social media application and those people who have an account on one social media application, they also made their account on other social media applications. The study has also shown that males and females have their own opinions about social media applications. The females are making their accounts on Facebook. And this is also verified that females more use social media applications than males.

As indicated by Berg et al. (2012), The more use of social media applications use occurs simultaneously with the biggest structural replacement towards that society which is based on the information level, and in which relationships are built socially, and they are made more powerful strengthened through the chain of egocentrism. Online communication has been laid more importance than offline communication.

Theoretical Framework

View the theoretical structure as a philosophical construct that provides a systemic context that directs the study. This offers the context for your analysis and provides the reader with a rationale for your examination of a particular research issue. 

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Mäntymäki and Islam (2016) say both optimistic and harmful effects on the usage of SNSs. 

Mäntymäki and Islam (2016) used the U&G method to portray social improvement and emotional interaction as optimistic gratifications, while exhibitionism and voyeurism as derogatory gratifications for SNS usage. The best indicator of SNS usage is exhibitionism, interpersonal interaction and voyeurism, respectively, and the amount of SNS friends (Mäntymäki & Islam, 2016). Mäntymäki and Islam (2014) find that an ad that likes SNSs were correlated with various motives, respectively: voyeurism and exhibitionism.

Media Dependency Theory

A disciplined method to the study of the impact of social media on the people and the interactions between the social media, the people, and the community-based systems. The hypothesis was organized by American media scholars Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976 (Lin, 2008).

There is less public awareness about the everyday world, and they can use social media to provide more knowledge and satisfy their needs. Intense social media usage creates reliant viewer relationships. Media can, however, develop reliance relationships with selected viewers by utilizing its media power and influence to accomplish their objectives (Lin, 2008).

Research Design

Creswell and John W (2014) define research design as “A compilation of methods and procedures used to collect and evaluate the variables defined in the question research”. This present research study was designed to determine the usage of social media applications and social interaction patterns among teenagers of Sargodha city. Keeping in view nature and necessity of the study, the survey research process is embraced.

Findings

The present study is based on the Usage of Social Media Applications and Social Interaction Patterns among teenagers of Sargodha city. The major findings of the study are given below:

Table 1. Frequency of Using Social Media Applications

	Frequency	Overall	13-16 year's	17-19 year's	Male	Female
Frequency of using Facebook	Very Frequently	16	14	16	13	18.6
	Frequently	25	18	27	25	24.4
	Somewhat	19	23	17	18	18.6
	Rarely	22	21	22	26	16.3
	Not at all	20	25	18	18	22.1
Frequency of using Instagram	Very Frequently	14	14	13	12	15.1
	Frequently	18	16	19	16	21.5
	Somewhat	10	9	10	11	8.1
	Rarely	16	20	15	15	17.4
	Not at all	43	42	43	46	37.8
Frequency of using Tiktok	Very Frequently	12	14	12	11	13.4
	Frequently	9	14	7	9	8.7
	Somewhat	12	13	12	13	11.0
	Rarely	14	14	14	12	16.9
	Not at all	53	47	55	55	50.0
Frequency of using Whatsapp	Very Frequently	61	59	61	54	46
	Frequently	20	23	18	22	68.6
	Somewhat	6	3	6	7	16.3
	Rarely	7	8	7	8	6.4
	Not at all	7	6	8	9	5.2
Frequency of using Youtube	Very Frequently	26	24	26	24	28.5
	Frequently	38	35	38	35	41.9
	Somewhat	17	14	18	19	14.0
	Rarely	10	18	8	9	11.0
	Not at all	10	9	10	14	4.7

*Figure shows percentage

 

Table 1 shows the teenagers frequency of using social media applications. Empirical finding reveals that teenagers more frequently use Whatsapp (81%), as compared to Youtube (64%), Facebook (41%), Instagram (32%) and Tiktok (21%)

Table 2. Time of Using Social Media Applications

Time of using Facebook
Not at all	33	42	31	33	33.1
Less than 1 hour	39	40	38	40	37.2
1 to 2 hours	16	10	18	17	14.5
3 to 4 hours	6	6	6	6	6.4
More than 4 hours	6	2	7	4	8.7
Time of using Instagram
Not at all	53	54	53	56	49.4
Less than 1 hour	23	20	23	21	25.0
1 to 2 hours	15	16	15	17	12.8
3 to 4 hours	5	4	5	4	5.2
More than 4 hours	5	6	5	3	7.6
Time of using Tiktok
Not at all	59	54	61	59	58.7
Less than 1 hour	18	18	18	17	19.8
1 to 2 hours	14	18	12	15	11.0
3 to 4 hours	4	7	3	4	5.2
More than 4 hours	5	3	6	5	5.2
Time of using Whatsapp
Not at all	10	6	11	13	5.2
Less than 1 hour	21	26	20	25	15.7
1 to 2 hours	19	21	18	17	22.1
3 to 4 hours	16	14	16	14	16.9
More than 4 hours	35	33	35	30	40.1
Time of using Youtube
Not at all	19	15	21	25	11.0
Less than 1 hour	28	33	27	25	32.0
1 to 2 hours	27	28	27	25	29.1
3 to 4 hours	14	14	14	11	18.0
More than 4 hours	11	10	12	12	9.9

*Figure shows the percentage

 

Table 2 shows the time spending of students on using social media applications. Empirical findings reveal that students frequently spend more time using WhatsApp (51%), as compared with youtube (25%), Facebook (12%), Instagram (10%) and Tiktok (9%).

Table 3. Purpose of Using Social Media Applications

Using Social Media Applications for Event Planning
Very Much	14	13	14	14	13.4
Much	17	18	16	16	18.0
Somewhat	22	19	23	17	29.7
Little	21	20	21	23	18.0
Not at all	26	31	25	30	20.9
Using Social Media Applications for Exchange Ideas
Very Much	19	15	20	21	15.1
Much	33	38	32	29	39.5
Somewhat	21	23	20	18	23.8
Little	14	15	14	14	13.4
Not at all	13	10	14	17	8.1
Using Social Media Applications for Exchange Information on Conflict
Very Much	21	16	23	19	23.8
Much	27	21	28	25	29.1
Somewhat	19	23	17	21	14.5
Little	14	20	12	12	16.3
Not at all	20	21	20	23	16.3
Using Social Media Applications for Informal Learning
Very Much	24	19	25	22	25.0
Much	33	36	32	34	32.0
Somewhat	21	20	22	22	20.3
Little	14	16	13	12	16.9
Not at all	8	9	8	10	5.8
Using Social Media Applications for Keeping in Touch with Family
Very Much	41	42	41	39	43.0
Much	24	31	22	23	26.2
Somewhat	14	10	14	13	14.0
Little	11	9	11	10	11.0
Not at all	11	7	12	14	5.8
Using Social Media Applications for keeping in touch with Friends
Very Much	50	53	49	47	54.1
Much	25	25	25	24	26.2
Somewhat	11	9	12	10	12.2
Little	7	7	6	9	3.5
Not at all	8	5	9	11	4.1
Using Social Media Applications to Raise Awareness through Sharing
Very Much	30	29	30	28	33.1
Much	26	23	27	29	20.9
Somewhat	15	17	14	12	18.0
Little	15	14	15	14	15.7
Not at all	15	18	14	17	12.2
Using Social Media Applications to Build Cooperation
Very Much	16	18	15	14	17.4
Much	31	33	30	29	33.1
Somewhat	27	24	28	26	29.1
Little	11	11	11	12	9.9
Not at all	15	14	15	18	10.5
Using Social Media Applications to Compete with Others
Very Much	15	15	15	11	19.8
Much	22	27	20	22	20.3
Somewhat	18	17	18	15	21.5
Little	16	9	17	17	14.0
Not at all	30	32	30	35	24.4
Using Social Media Applications to Find the Latest News
Very Much	39	35	40	42	34.9
Much	29	26	30	25	33.7
Somewhat	13	15	12	12	14.0
Little	12	11	12	14	8.7
Not at all	8	13	6	7	8.7
Using Social Media Applications to share your Videos and Photos
Very Much	28	22	30	26	31.4
Much	16	17	16	16	15.7
Somewhat	24	21	24	19	29.1
Little	16	25	13	18	13.4
Not at all	17	16	17	21	10.5

*Figure shows the percentage

 

Table 3 shows the students purpose of using social media applications. Empirical findings reveal that students more use social media applications for keeping in touch with friends (75%) as compared To find the Latest News (68%), Keeping in touch with family (65%), Informal learning (57%), Raise Awareness through Sharing (56%), Exchange Ideas (52%), Exchange Information on conflict (48%), To build cooperation (47%), To share your videos and photos (44%), To compete with Others (37%) and Event Planning (31%).

Table 4. Content Liking on Social Media Applications

Liking of Advertisements on Social Media Applications
Very Much	20	21	19	20	18.6
Much	23	22	23	21	25.6
Somewhat	16	15	16	18	12.8
Little	15	18	14	16	14.5
Not at all	27	25	27	25	28.5
Liking of Animated Movies on Social Media Applications
Very Much	15	17	15	14	17.4
Much	30	28	30	29	30.8
Somewhat	22	23	21	22	20.3
Little	16	17	15	16	15.1
Not at all	18	16	19	19	16.3
Liking of Education Related content on Social Media Applications
Very Much	33	32	34	36	30.2
Much	33	34	33	33	32.6
Somewhat	18	17	19	16	21.5
Little	11	11	11	11	11.0
Not at all	5	5	5	5	4.7
Liking of Games on Social Media Applications
Very Much	26	20	27	28	22.1
Much	23	31	21	26	19.2
Somewhat	24	22	25	20	29.1
Little	13	13	13	10	16.9
Not at all	15	15	14	16	12.8
Liking of Infographics on Social Media Applications
Very Much	14	20	13	16	11.6
Much	26	25	26	24	27.9
Somewhat	23	21	24	20	26.7
Little	20	18	20	19	20.9
Not at all	18	17	18	21	12.8
Liking of Music on Social Media Applications
Very Much	37	38	37	33	41.9
Much	28	33	27	29	27.3
Somewhat	15	11	16	15	14.5
Little	11	11	11	13	8.1
Not at all	9	6	10	10	8.1
Liking of Pictures on Social Media Applications
Very Much	36	36	35	31	41.3
Much	28	28	28	26	30.2
Somewhat	16	15	16	16	15.1
Little	9	10	8	9	7.6
Not at all	13	10	13	18	5.8

*Figure shows the percentage

 

Table 4 shows teenagers liking of content on social media applications. Empirical findings reveal that teenagers like Education-related content on social media applications (66%) as compared to Music (65%), Pictures (64%), Games (49%), Animated Movies (45%), Advertisements (43%), and Infographics (40%).

Table 5. Reduced of Activities

Social Media Applications Have Reduced the Indoor Activities
Very Much	57	58	57	57	57.6
Much	22	24	21	22	22.1
Somewhat	12	9	13	11	13.4
Little	4	4	3	4	2.3
Not at all	6	4	6	6	4.7
Social Media Applications Have Reduced Offline Friendship
Very Much	36	30	37	36	35.5
Much	28	39	24	26	29.7
Somewhat	15	11	16	15	15.1
Little	10	10	10	11	8.1
Not at all	12	9	13	12	11.6
Social Media Applications Have Reduced the Outdoor Activities
Very Much	37	35	37	41	31.4
Much	22	27	20	20	25.0
Somewhat	21	17	22	20	20.9
Little	10	14	9	9	11.6
Not at all	11	7	12	11	11.0
Social Media Applications Have Reduced Sports
Very Much	40	34	42	42	37.8
Much	20	17	21	18	21.5
Somewhat	17	19	16	14	20.3
Little	13	17	12	14	11.6
Not at all	10	14	9	11	8.7

*Figure shows the percentage

 

Table 5 shows that to what extent teenagers agree that the use of social media applications has reduced Indoor Activities, Offline Friendship, Outdoor Activities and Sports. The empirical finding reveals that teenagers agree that the use of social media applications has reduced Indoor Activities (79%) as compared to Offline Friendship (64%), Sports (60%) and Outdoor Activities (59%).

Statistical Analysis Test Statistics: Correlation

		Affect on SIP	Effect of SM App on Bonding	Relationship Problems	Content Liking	Methods of Interaction	Preference for SM/TM	Reduced Activities
Frequency USM  App	Pearson Correlation	.157**	.188**	.125*	.263**	.267**	.325**	.033
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.002	.000	.012	.000	.000	.000	.510
	N	399	400	400	400	400	400	400
Time USM App	Pearson Correlation	-.079	-.203**	-.096	-.204**	-.263**	-.266**	-.075
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.113	.000	.054	.000	.000	.000	.135
	N	399	400	400	400	400	400	400
Purpose USM App	Pearson Correlation	.079	.192**	.171**	.387**	.234**	.366**	.055
	Sig. (2-tailed)	.115	.000	.001	.000	.000	.000	.273
	N	399	400	400	400	400	400	400

 Note. USM = using of social media applications, SIP = social interaction patterns, SM = social media, TM = traditional media

The result of the correlation test shows that there is a significant correlation between the frequency of using social media applications and the affect social interaction patterns of teenagers. The frequency of using social media applications and effects on bonding with family, relatives, peers and friends are highly correlated. There is a significant correlation between the frequency of using social media applications and the relationship problems face by spending more time using social media applications. The frequency of using social media applications and content liking on social media applications are highly correlated. While the frequency of using social media applications and methods to interact socially on social media applications are correlated. On the other hand frequency of using social media applications and preference of social media over traditional media is highly correlated. However, there is no significant correlation between the frequency of using social media applications and Indoor activities, Offline Friendship, Outdoor activities and sports, which are reduced by the use of social media applications.

 Time of using social media applications is negatively correlated with effect on social interaction patterns of teenagers, with effects on bonding with family, relatives, peers and friends, with relationship problems face by spending more time on using social media applications, content liking on social media applications, methods to interact socially on social media applications, preference of social media over traditional media and the indoor activities, offline friendship, outdoor activities and sports.

The result of the correlation test shows that there is no significant correlation between the purposes of using social media applications and the affect social interaction patterns of teenagers. There is a significant correlation between the purposes of using social media applications and the effects on bonding with family, relatives, peers and friends. Purposes of using social media applications are highly correlated with relationship problems face by spending more time using social media applications. There is a significant correlation between the purposes of using social media applications and content liking on social media applications. Purposes of using social media applications and methods to interact socially on social media applications are significantly correlated. There is a significant correlation between the purposes of using social media applications and the preference for social media over traditional media. However, there is no significant correlation between the purposes of using social media applications and indoor activities, offline friendship, outdoor activities and sports, which are reduced by the use of social media applications.

Summary and Discussion

This study was designed to explore the Usage of Social Media Applications and Social Interaction Patterns among Teenagers. Usage of Social Media Applications, Time, Purpose, and Social Media Applications affects Social Interaction Patterns, Social Media Applications effects Bonding, Relationship Problems, Content Liking, Methods of Interact, Extent of Preference and Reduction were major concepts of the study. A purposive convenient sampling technique was used, and four Hundred students were interviewed for data collection. Two hundred and twenty-eight students were male, and One hundred and seventy-two students were female.

The analysis of response to the question that how frequently you use the following social media applications revealed that the majority of the teenagers use Whatsapp as compared to Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok (see Table 5.1). Among the age group, 13-16 year teenagers more frequently use Whatsapp as compared to17-19 year teenagers. It is also observed that females more use Whatsapp than male teenagers.

The analysis of response to the question that to what extent do you think you use social media applications for the following purposes revealed that the majority of the teenagers use social media applications for keeping in touch with friends (see Table 5.2). Among the age group, 13-16 year, teenagers use social media applications for keeping in touch with friends as compared to17-19 year teenagers. It is also observed that females more use social media applications for keeping in touch with friends than male teenagers.

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