<![CDATA[Young people's growing dependence on social media carries dual consequences for psychological well-being, a risk that deserves particular attention among students in the Information Technology and Computer Education (PTIK) programme, who deal with digital technology on a daily basis, since technical familiarity with digital tools does not necessarily protect them from the psychological strain of intensive social media use. This study aims to examine the influence of social media use intensity on the levels of stress, anxiety, and depression among PTIK students at Makassar State University's 2023 intake. An associative quantitative approach was employed, involving 96 students selected via purposive sampling based on the criteria of being active students and active social media users. Data were collected using a social media usage questionnaire and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21), which measures three mental health dimensions separately, and were subsequently analysed using descriptive statistics, classical assumption tests, and simple linear regression. The results indicate that students' level of social media use is relatively high (mean 39.72), with stress being the most prominent dimension (M = 9.24), followed by depression (M = 8.42) and anxiety (M = 7.85). The regression equation Y = 18.624 + 0.584X shows a positive and significant influence of social media use on all three dimensions (F = 28.543; p = .000), with a coefficient of determination of R² = .262, indicating a moderate effect size. These findings confirm that technical proficiency alone is insufficient to protect technology-programme students from the psychological effects of social media, underscoring the need to deliberately integrate digital-emotional literacy and time management into the development of future technology educators.]]>
