From Screen Time to Social Connection: Exploring Digital Habits and Well-Being among School Students

Authors

  • Ni Putu Quilan Putri Bali Laroche Cendekia Harapan School, Bali, Indonesia
  • Luh Wahyuningsih Cendekia Harapan School, Bali, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33394/jp.v13i4.21673

Keywords:

Adolescent Digital Well-Being, Social Media Use, Screen Time, Adult Guidance, Face-To-Face Communication

Abstract

This study aims to describe students’ screen use, social media habits, adult guidance, digital boundaries, and their associations with self-reported mental well-being and face-to-face social communication. A descriptive quantitative survey was conducted with 20 students from Grades 7 to 9 selected through convenience sampling. The questionnaire examined weekday and weekend screen time, platform use, social media activities, parental rules, screen-time limits, phone use before sleep, physical discomfort, mood after social media use, feelings of loneliness and sadness, and confidence in face-to-face communication. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, while responses to open-ended questions were categorized thematically. The findings indicate that most students reported spending 2–4 hours on screens during weekdays and 4–6 hours during weekends. TikTok was the most frequently used platform, whereas scrolling and watching content were the predominant activities. Many students reported not using screen-time limits, and several indicated using their phones before sleep, experiencing eye strain or headaches, and feeling worse after using social media. Nevertheless, most students remained confident and comfortable in face-to-face communication. These findings suggest that adolescent digital well-being should be promoted through guided boundaries, adult involvement, and balanced technology use rather than through the complete rejection of digital media.

References

Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41, 27–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001

Boer, M., Eijnden, R. J. J. M. van den, Boniel-Nissim, M., Wong, S.-L., Inchley, J. C., Badura, P., Craig, W. M., Gobina, I., Kleszczewska, D., Klanšček, H. J., & Stevens, G. W. J. M. (2020). Adolescents’ Intense and Problematic Social Media Use and Their Well-Being in 29 Countries. Journal of Adolescent Health, 66(6), S89–S99.

Council on Communications and Media, Hill, D., Ameenuddin, N., Chassiakos, Y. (Linda) R., Cross, C., Radesky, J., Hutchinson, J., Levine, A., Boyd, R., Mendelson, R., Moreno, M., Swanson, W. S., & MBE. (2016). Media Use in School-Aged Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics, 138(5), e20162592. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-2592

Faverio, M., Anderson, M., & Park, E. (2025, April 22). Teens, Social Media and Mental Health. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/04/22/teens-social-media-and-mental-health/

Godard, R., & Holtzman, S. (2024). Are active and passive social media use related to mental health, wellbeing, and social support outcomes? A meta-analysis of 141 studies. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 29(1), zmad055. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad055

Livingstone, S., Ólafsson, K., Helsper, E. J., Lupiáñez-Villanueva, F., Veltri, G. A., & Folkvord, F. (2017). Maximizing Opportunities and Minimizing Risks for Children Online: The Role of Digital Skills in Emerging Strategies of Parental Mediation. Journal of Communication, 67(1), 82–105. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12277

Mohan, A., Sen, P., Shah, C., Jain, E., & Jain, S. (2021). Prevalence and risk factor assessment of digital eye strain among children using online e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Digital eye strain among kids (DESK study-1). Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 69(1), 140–144. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_2535_20

Nesi, J. (2020). The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health: Challenges and Opportunities. North Carolina Medical Journal, 81(2). https://doi.org/10.18043/ncm.81.2.116

Odgers, C. L., & Jensen, M. R. (2020). Annual Research Review: Adolescent mental health in the digital age: facts, fears, and future directions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(3), 336–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13190

Orben, A. (2020). Teenagers, screens and social media: A narrative review of reviews and key studies. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 55(4), 407–414. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-019-01825-4

Orben, A., Meier, A., Dalgleish, T., & Blakemore, S.-J. (2024). Mechanisms linking social media use to adolescent mental health vulnerability. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(6), 407–423. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-024-00307-y

Orben, A., & Przybylski, A. K. (2019). The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(2), 173–182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1

Schmidt-Persson, J., Rasmussen, M. G. B., Sørensen, S. O., Mortensen, S. R., Olesen, L. G., Brage, S., Kristensen, P. L., Bilenberg, N., & Grøntved, A. (2024). Screen Media Use and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Network Open, 7(7), e2419881.

Scott, H., Biello, S. M., & Woods, H. C. (2019). Social media use and adolescent sleep patterns: Cross-sectional findings from the UK millennium cohort study. BMJ Open, 9(9), e031161. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-031161

Sherman, L. E., Greenfield, P. M., Hernandez, L. M., & Dapretto, M. (2018). Peer Influence Via Instagram: Effects on Brain and Behavior in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Child Development, 89(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12838

Sohn, S. Y., Rees, P., Wildridge, B., Kalk, N. J., & Carter, B. (2019). Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: A systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1), 356. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2350-x

Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: Evidence from a population-based study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 271–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.10.003

Uhls, Y. T., Ellison, N. B., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2017). Benefits and Costs of Social Media in Adolescence. Pediatrics, 140(Supplement_2), S67–S70. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2016-1758E

Valkenburg, P. M., Meier, A., & Beyens, I. (2022). Social media use and its impact on adolescent mental health: An umbrella review of the evidence. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.017

Woods, H. C., & Scott, H. (2016). #Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self‐esteem. Journal of Adolescence, 51(1), 41–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.05.008

Xiao, Y., Meng, Y., Brown, T. T., Keyes, K. M., & Mann, J. J. (2025). Addictive Screen Use Trajectories and Suicidal Behaviors, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health in US Youths. JAMA, 334(3), 219–228. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2025.7829

Downloads

Published

2026-10-10

How to Cite

Laroche, N. P. Q. P. B., & Wahyuningsih, L. (2026). From Screen Time to Social Connection: Exploring Digital Habits and Well-Being among School Students. Jurnal Paedagogy, 13(4), 1792–1803. https://doi.org/10.33394/jp.v13i4.21673

Issue

Vol. 13 No. 4 (2026): October (IN PRESS)

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Copyright (c) 2026 The Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

License and Publishing Agreement
In submitting the manuscript to the journal, the authors certify that:

  • They are authorized by their co-authors to enter into these arrangements.
  • The work described has not been formally published before, except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, thesis, or overlay journal.
  • That it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere,
  • That its publication has been approved by all the author(s) and by the responsible authorities tacitly or explicitly of the institutes where the work has been carried out.
  • They secure the right to reproduce any material that has already been published or copyrighted elsewhere.
  • They agree to the following license and publishing agreement.

Copyright
Authors who publish with Jurnal Paedagogy agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. 
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.

Licensing for Data Publication

Jurnal Paedagogy use a variety of waivers and licenses, that are specifically designed for and appropriate for the treatment of data:
Other data publishing licenses may be allowed as exceptions (subject to approval by the editor on a case-by-case basis) and should be justified with a written statement from the author, which will be published with the article.