In recent years, students’ mental health has been in decline because of the fear of
missing out due to the overconsumption of social media. Seeing all of their peers on social media many college students feel that they need to compete or live up to their peer’s standards.
The more students spend on social media the further their mental health will decline.
For example, they may begin to experience bad habits, depression, and anxiety, all due to the consumption and exposure to so many things on social media. Someone’s emotional, social, and psychological well-being is referred to as their mental health. It affects a person’s emotions and actions. Many suffer from addiction and, in spite of their damaging physical or psychological behaviors, are unable to stop participating in other substance-related behaviors.
Popular Platforms among Gen Z
The main apps that college students are using is Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
According to Business Insider, “Nearly half of Gen Z is using Instagram and TikTok for search instead of Google.” This shows that young students are always on social media and use of it is so important to them. Researchers used focus groups and surveys that collected data from college students about how many social media consumption they are having within an average day. After results were analyzed, the researchers found that more than 50% of college students immediately check social media after waking up in the morning. They also found that more than 50% of students can’t go more than a few hours without social media consumption
These social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are giving false realities for these students seeing people that they feel they need to compare themselves to and live up to. The Instagram models and TikTok influencers are making many people view themselves negatively because of the amazing image these influencers post to social media. Social media will lower peoples mental health as they feel they need to live up to a certain standard because they see an image that people are living these great lives or they look a certain way and they want to be just like them.
Social media also leads to the decline of in person interaction for this age group. More
people will use Snapchat or other social media platforms to communicate, rather than face to face interaction. This will also lead to mental health problems within college students because it leads to them thinking more about how much a person is snap chatting them or texting them, rather than having a more intimate face to face interaction where you can express emotions to each other verbally.
Student Opinions
I interviewed two students here at SUNY Cortland that actively use social media on a day to day basis. Abby uses Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok everyday religiously and agrees that she takes up most of her free time using social media. She explains that when she wakes up in the morning she goes on Snapchat and snaps the people who have snapped her while she was asleep, even if they aren’t having a legitimate conversation. She will snapchat a picture of herself as a response to their Snapchat of a similar photo. She uses TikTok to pass time and sees many people on the app that she compares herself to and occasionally will feel like she doesn’t look as
good to some people she sees on the app. This affects her mental health as she feels less confident in herself. Anthony uses social media every day as well, although he doesn’t use Snapchat as much, he is an avid TikTok watcher. He watches TikTok every day in his free time and is consumed within the app so much sometimes he doesn’t realize how much time passes by while scrolling through the videos he is watching.
College students are addicted to social media and consume so much of it, that it affects their mental health and social interaction within the real world.