Summary: The Impact of Social Media Addiction on Recreation Anxiety in Individuals
This article presents a study investigating the relationship between social media addiction and recreation anxiety among adults. The research, conducted by Ramazan Özavci and published in Frontiers in Psychology, utilizes a quantitative descriptive survey model. The study defines recreation anxiety as the general state of worry, tension, and restlessness individuals experience regarding recreational activities. The research aims to establish an empirical, theoretical link between the maladaptive digital habit of social media addiction and the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms that govern leisure time and participation in recreational activities. To provide a robust theoretical explanation, the study introduces a synthesis of established psychological and sociological frameworks, including Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954), Conspicuous Consumption (Veblen, 1899), the Mean World Syndrome (Gerbner and Gross, 1976), and Self-Determination Theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985), to systematically explain why social media addiction inherently triggers and exacerbates six specific sub-dimensions of recreation anxiety.
The study was conducted using a descriptive survey model, a quantitative research approach, and involved 399 volunteer adult participants (160 males and 239 females) living in Çanakkale, Türkiye, who were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using three instruments: a personal information form for demographic details, a unidimensional 7-item social media addiction scale, and a 25-item recreation anxiety scale with six sub-dimensions: self-efficacy/social anxiety, physical symptoms, economic anxiety, safety anxiety, responsibility anxiety, and anticipatory anxiety. The collected data underwent normality, validity, and reliability analyses, followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the established theoretical model and its six hypotheses. The demographic profile of the participants was predominantly female (59.9%), aged 25 and above (60.2%), and from a middle-income bracket (71.4%). Notably, 38.3% of participants reported no participation in recreational activities, and the majority used social media for 3-6 hours daily.
The study’s statistical analyses confirmed the reliability and validity of the measurement instruments. All constructs demonstrated high internal consistency and Composite Reliability values above 0.70, and the convergent and discriminant validity criteria were met. The subsequent Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) confirmed a good model fit, with key indicators meeting the appropriate thresholds (CFI=0.955, RMSEA=0.051). The central results, derived from the Structural Equation Modeling, showed that all six hypotheses were statistically significant (p < 0.001). Social media addiction was found to have a substantial and statistically significant positive impact on all six sub-dimensions of recreation anxiety. The strongest effects were on behavioral patterns related to one’s perceived role fulfillment, while even the weakest effect on the psychological weight of anticipated experiences was still notable, demonstrating that social media addiction exerts a comprehensive influence on an individual’s psychological, physical, and cognitive processes.
The strongest effect, with a standardized coefficient of 0.659, was on responsibility anxiety (accounting for 43% of its variance). This suggests that social media addiction amplifies a feeling of guilt or anxiety regarding neglected real-world duties, shifting the perception of recreation from a restorative activity to a source of stress. This was followed by significant effects on self-efficacy and social anxiety (0.572), economic anxiety (0.533), physical symptoms (0.524), and safety anxiety (0.512). The weakest, yet still significant, effect was on anticipatory anxiety (0.299). The study’s findings were interpreted within its theoretical framework. The link to self-efficacy and social anxiety, for example, was attributed to upward social comparison on idealized social media portrayals, while the heightened economic anxiety was linked to conspicuous consumption, where social media’s display of luxury leisure enhances relative deprivation. Concerns were also linked to safety anxiety, environmental risk perception, and social media’s constant exposure to negative news.
The validation of all hypotheses establishes social media addiction as a significant predictor of recreation anxiety. The theoretical implications of the study highlight that social media addiction does not merely reduce available time but fundamentally damages the quality and experience of leisure. This integration of SDT and delay discounting theory indicates that social media addiction impedes autonomy and competence, causing leisure to be perceived as a source of guilt, and that its instant-reward system devalues the delayed gratification inherent in real-world activities. On a practical level, the findings suggest a need for policy and program designs to address the impact of digital addiction on mental wellbeing. It is recommended that local authorities increase the availability of free public events to combat perceived economic barriers to, integrate “digital detox” elements into recreation programs to mitigate responsibility anxiety, and for mental health professionals to consider digital media habits when addressing concerns related to leisure and recreation. Ultimately, the research provides a strong theoretical bridge between digital habits and the cognitive barriers to participation in leisure, offering a foundation for future interventions.