Relationship between Social Media Addiction and Life Satisfaction: Mediating Role of Online Social Capital

Abstract

In India, the digital cosmos is spreading day by day, and accessing social networking sites have become part of everyday life for millions of Indians. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between social media addiction (internet addiction for surfing social networking sites) and life satisfaction. Furthermore, the current study investigated the mediating role of online social capital in the aforementioned relationship. The data were collected from Indian nationals (N=347) through a non-probabilistic sample method, through a self-administered questionnaire, which consisted of established scales related to the key variables. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was used to test the proposed research model. It was found that there was a negative association between social media addiction and life satisfaction. However, this relationship was positively mediated by online social capital. Social media addiction directly reduces life satisfaction, but when mediated by online social capital, it builds up life satisfaction.