Virtual delivery of evidence-based, person-centered breastfeeding peer counseling: a qualitative evaluation of women's experiences and perceptions.

Alexithymia is a personality construct defined by difficulties in identifying and describing one’s emotions, along with an externally oriented thinking style, and is widely studied in affective science and clinical psychology This includes facing challenges in differentiating between emotions, recognizing, describing, and expressing feelings. With increasing awareness and relevance to mental health, it is increasingly recognized among populations exposed to high stress and complex environments. Medical students are part of the group exposed to a demanding environment characterized by intense academic pressures, frequent exposure to emotionally charged clinical scenarios, and a requirement to rapidly transition from learner to caregiver roles. The pervasive use of social media among young adults has introduced a new domain of behavioral risk. Social media addiction, with excessive and compulsive engagement in online networking, has become an increasing concern. Some studies have reported that individuals with higher levels of alexithymia may be more prone to problematic digital behaviors, yet very few studies have specifically examined this link.Early research has demonstrated a significant association between alexithymia and problematic internet use, suggesting that individuals with impaired emotional awareness may be more vulnerable to maladaptive digital behaviors. Furthermore, alexithymia has been linked with anxiety-spectrum psychopathology and emotional dysregulation, which may contribute to excessive engagement in online environments. Among medical students, mobile phone addiction has been shown to mediate the effect of alexithymia on learning burnout. Emotionally unaware students may overuse mobile devices as a coping mechanism, thereby exacerbating stress and exhaustion in educational contexts. Research among medical students indicates that alexithymia acts as a mediating factor between social media addiction and empathy levels, implying that limited emotional awareness may contribute to reduced empathic abilities in individuals, which is a concern for those working in healthcare. Additionally, a multi-country study reported a significant association between alexithymia and psychological distress, suggesting that emotional processing difficulties may increase vulnerability to maladaptive digital coping behaviors. Understanding the magnitude of this phenomenon and its correlations could inform interventions aimed at enhancing the emotional awareness and mental well-being of future healthcare workers. To bridge this gap, there is a pressing need to determine the prevalence of alexithymia among medical students and its association with social media addiction alongside other sociodemographic and behavioral factors. This cross-sectional study aims to address this gap by estimating the connection and prevalence of alexithymia in a medical student population, particularly with social media addiction, to provide evidence that can inform emotional health strategies within medical education. This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students enrolled in medical colleges across Pakistan between June 2025 and November 2025, following approval from the relevant institutional ethics committee.