Behavioral Interventions to Reduce Social Media Addiction Among School-Going Adolescents in Karachi

Addiction to Social Networking Sites (SNS) is considered a major public health problem and is well recognized around the world with serious social and health-related implications. There have been numerous studies that have been undertaken to examine the prevalence and severity of SNS addiction in Pakistani undergraduates. However, there are limited studies that have been done on the school-going adolescent population, especially in Pakistan. More importantly, there have been no interventions done to improve the minimization of the level of SNS addiction in this vulnerable cohort. This study will evaluate the effect of implementing targeted interventions for reducing the burden of SNS addiction so that in the future, evidence-based decisions may be taken and changes are incorporated in school curriculums. Objective The specific objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of SNS addiction and to explore the perceptions of school-going adolescents regarding SNS addiction in metropolitan Karachi, Pakistan. It will further aim to introduce well-designed, online, tailored behavioral change interventions amongst students found with a high burden for significantly decreasing the prevalence of SNS addiction and for assessing their readiness to change. Methodology This will be a mixed-methods concurrent embedded interventional study. The study will be conducted in selected private schools of Karachi in all its seven Districts. Prevalence will be assessed online by sharing an internationally validated tool with the students after getting students and their parent's consent. Concurrently, focus group discussions will be conducted in school premises with selected students from grades VI-XI. Once prevalence is ascertained, interventions will be designed to reduce levels of SNS addiction. Students will be randomly assigned to control and intervention groups and will be shown carefully designed interventions in the form of videos targeting specific domains of addiction. The effects of these interventions and readiness to change will be assessed after a period of three months.

NCT Number	NCT07277621
Lead Sponsor	Dow University of Health Sciences
Conditions	Internet Addiction Disorder
Enrollment	260 participants
Start Date	2025-10-10
Primary Completion	2026-01-10 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-01-10 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-02-24