Table 3.

Hypotheses testing

Hypotheses	Path values	t values (bootstrapping at 5000)	p	Status
H1: There will be an increase in time spent on social media during COVID-19 pandemic	χ2 = 293.14	–	< .001	Accepted
H2: Psychological distress will predict social media addiction	.308	6.63	< .001	Accepted
H3: Psychological distress will predict FoMO	.457	11.798	< .001	Accepted
H4: FoMO will predict social media addiction	.438	10.680	< .001	Accepted
H5: Psychological distress will predict boredom proneness	.592	19.790	< 0.001	Accepted
H6: Boredom proneness will predict social media addiction	.164	3.770	< .001	Accepted
H7: FOMO will mediate the relationship between psychological distress and social media addiction	.200	7.706	< .001	Accepted
H8: Boredom proneness will mediate the relationship between psychological distress and social media addiction	.097	3.690	< .001	Accepted