The Impact of Social Media Use and Digital Literacy on Adolescents’ Self-Disclosure

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impact of social media use and digital literacy on adolescents’ self-disclosure. The research used a quantitative survey method with a correlational design. Respondents were adolescents aged 15–21 years who actively used social media. Although the initial minimum sample target was 100 respondents, the valid data recorded in the SPSS output consisted of 106 respondents. Data were collected using Likert-scale questionnaires and analyzed through descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression. The results showed that social media use and digital literacy simultaneously had a significant effect on self-disclosure, as indicated by F = 36.869 and Sig. = 0.000. The coefficient of determination was 0.417, meaning that both independent variables explained 41.7% of the variance in self-disclosure. Partially, social media use had a positive and significant effect on self-disclosure (B = 0.851; t = 8.342; Sig. = 0.000), while digital literacy did not have a significant effect (B = -0.148; t = -0.992; Sig. = 0.324). These findings indicate that adolescents’ openness in digital spaces is more strongly related to their social media use than to their digital literacy level.