Adolescents’ lived experiences with social media and social-emotional development (SED)

Abstract

This study examines how adolescents in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), India, experience social media in relation to their social-emotional development. Given the predominance of quantitative research, this study focuses on adolescents’ lived experiences within a complex urban sociocultural context. The study employed an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, using semi-structured interviews and supplementary focus group discussions (FGDs) with 35 adolescents aged 14–17 years. Five themes emerged: emotional regulation, peer validation and self-concept, digital empathy and its paradoxes, relational navigation and conflict, and academic–social tension. The findings indicate that adolescents experienced social media as a simultaneously enabling and disruptive social environment, shaping emotional expression, peer relationships, information access, social comparison, and interpersonal conflict. This study further highlights the relevance of integrating social–emotional learning (SEL) and media and information literacy (MIL) to support responsible digital citizenship.