Self-Regulation of Social Media Use among College Students: A Survey-informed Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

Background: Students use social media for communication, information, and leisure while also describing difficulties disengaging from applications during academic activities. Objective: To explore the experiences, challenges, and self-regulation strategies of college students selected from opposite ends of a social media self-regulation screening score distribution. Methods: A survey-informed qualitative inquiry was conducted at a private college in Iloilo City, Philippines, during the first semester of the academic year 2026–2027. From an enrolled population of 7,907 students across 10 colleges, 367 students participated in a survey including the researcher-developed, 16-item Social Media Self-Regulation Inventory. Ten students, five from the lowest-scoring group and five from the highest-scoring group, subsequently participated in semi-structured interviews. Their accounts were organised using thematic analysis. Results: Five themes were identified: influences on social media use; challenges in behavioural control; cognitive and biopsychosocial consequences; mitigation strategies and environmental controls; and awareness and personal regulation. Participants described entertainment, communication, boredom, stress relief, notification-triggered checking, displaced study time, guilt, disrupted sleep, and efforts to manage applications and devices. Accounts of difficulty occurred in both screening groups. Conclusion: The interviews illustrate context-specific variation in how students recognise and manage social media distractions. These findings concern reported experiences and do not establish prevalence, causal effects, or the effectiveness of any self-regulation intervention.