Abstract:
People's lives have become increasingly reliant on technology, especially with the
emergence of social media. Research has shown that high technology usage has a
detrimental impact on health and is linked to rising rates of overweight individuals and
obesity worldwide (Chau et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2021; Melton et al., 2014). There is a surge
in the number of college students who use technology. Previous research examined the
effect of technology on BMI in children and adolescents (Alotaibi et al., 2020; Rosen et
al., 2014; Shen et al., 2021), but to date, there has been limited research conducted on
young adults ages between 18 -24. Increased technology usage is one of the main culprits
that lead to poor dietary choices and sedentary lifestyles, both of which have been linked
to an increase in BMI (Chau et al., 2014; Liu et al., 2021; Melton et al., 2014). This study
aims to examine the relationship between screen time usage and an increase in body mass
index (BMI) among George Mason University college students. The data was abstracted
from the Health Starts Here Study and included 131 first year students from George Mason University. Technology usage, BMI, diet, physical activity, and sleep were obtained
through various questionnaires and anthropometric measurements. These variables were
analyzed using different statistical tests: Person’s correlation, independent t-tests, and
stepwise regression analysis. The results showed that there is a non-significant correlation
between using social media, BMI, and dietary choices. Person’s correlation result revealed
that the correlation between social media and BMI was r (129) =.072 p=.416 while the
correlation between BMI and diet was r (129) =.09 p=.30. T-test result showed on average
low-tech usages (M=23.24, SD=5.09) had lower BMI scores than high-tech usage
(M=24.71, SD=6.81). This study concludes that the amount of time of using social media
has no impact on increasing BMI.
