Disconnected
Social media leaves college students paradoxically alone
⚠️ You have free article remaining.
Log in or become a member for unlimited access.
On April 28, 2004, CNBC’s Bullseye host Dylan Ratigan invited nineteen-year-old Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg onto his show to discuss TheFacebook (now Facebook), a then relatively unknown website Zuckerberg had launched with some friends three months earlier. At the beginning of the show, Ratigan explained that he wanted to interview Zuckerberg because “college networking websites” were “perhaps the next big thing.”
TheFacebook was Zuckerberg’s second attempt at creating a campus-wide social networking site. The year before, he had created FaceMash, a website where students ranked which of two randomly chosen Harvard women was “hotter.” The homepage proclaimed, “Were we let in for our looks? No. Will we be judged on them? Yes.” Zuckerberg faced immediate backlash from the university’s administration and several women’s groups, but the website’s popularity—students cast 22,000 votes on the first day—inspired Zuckerberg to cocreate TheFacebook.
During the Bullseye interview, Zuckerberg described his website as “just a place to find some interesting information about people” and “an online directory that connects people through universities and colleges through their social networks there.” When he and his cocreators launched the site, they “were hoping that four hundred or maybe five hundred people might eventually join,” Zuckerberg explained, but more than one hundred thousand users joined the online social network within the first two months. “Really cool, right?” Zuckerberg said. “Who knows where we are going next?”
In the subsequent twenty years, the number of platforms has proliferated well beyond Facebook, and social media’s reach has rapidly spread around the globe. As of April 2024, 5.1 billion people, 62.6 percent of the world’s population, were social media users, according to the Pew Research Center. While people of all ages use it, social media plays an especially large and influential role in the everyday lives of college and university students.
Eighty-four percent of adults aged eighteen to twenty-nine and roughly 98 percent of current college and university students use some form of social media daily, according to a recent Pew survey. Gen Z, the cohort born between 1997 and 2012 (including most current college and university students), spends an average of 4.5 hours a day on popular social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. They are also the first generation to come of age with both social media and smartphones (the iPhone was introduced in 2007).
While champions of social media are quick to point out its benefits for college students—including professional networking platforms, community-building tools, and easy access to like-minded groups and old friends—a growing number of educators, parents, researchers, and mental health experts are expressing concerns that social media use is psychologically harming young adults. More data is needed, but a number of recent research studies show a strong correlation between social media use and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm. Students with vulnerabilities such as social struggles, low self-esteem, and poor body image are at elevated risk.
“Social media usage is playing a detrimental role in the campus mental health crisis,” says Sherry Turkle, professor of the social studies of science and technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Turkle refers to social media as the “always on, always on you” technology and explains that social media use leads to “a state of constant distraction,” which adversely affects students’ work and social lives. As a result of the influence of social media, “conversations that require attention and concentration are challenging to the point of impossibility,” Turkle explains. Smartphones, she adds, with their built-in texting and social media apps, exacerbate the situation and allow students to avoid face-to-face encounters. “This leaves them, paradoxically, always connected but alone in a new way,” Turkle says.
Research shows that concurrent with the meteoric rise of social media, the mental health of college students has deteriorated. For instance, the total number of individuals between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three who reported experiencing a major depressive episode within the past year increased by 83 percent between 2008 and 2018, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Social media use among college students surged during the same years.
Although changes in diagnostic criteria and increased awareness about mental health may partly explain this increase, it’s unlikely the entire phenomenon is attributable to such factors, explains Luca Braghieri, a professor of decision sciences at Bocconi University in Italy. “The mental health of college students seems to have actually worsened over the past decade, and social media is often considered one of the main culprits,” Braghieri says.
In their 2021 study Social Media and Mental Health, Braghieri, Ro’ee Levy of Tel Aviv University, and Alexey Makarin of MIT found a significant link between the availability of Facebook and a decline in mental health among college students. The study leverages the initial staggered rollout of Facebook across US colleges and university campuses between 2004 and 2006. Researchers merged the dates of Facebook entry at an institution with data from the National College Health Assessment survey of more than four hundred thousand students across more than four hundred institutions. They found that when access to Facebook became available at an institution, student mental health declined significantly relative to demographically similar students in the same semester at institutions that did not yet have access to Facebook.
“Facebook’s entry especially intensified fear of missing out and comparing oneself negatively to peers,” Makarin explains.
“Students compare themselves to the often idealized representation of their peers’ lives, leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem—both major drivers of depression and anxiety,” Braghieri adds.
Although research has not definitively proved that social media actually causes mental health problems, experts argue that current scientific evidence points in that direction. “The best research done so far strongly suggests that social media usage among young adults leads to increased rates of depression and anxiety,” says Scott Cunningham, a professor of economics at Baylor University.
Young adults themselves report serious problems with social media. Teen Mental Health Deep Dive, a 2019 report about Instagram produced by Meta researchers (Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram), stated that “teens blame Instagram for increases in their rates of anxiety and depression.” The report notes that this reaction was “unprompted and consistent across all groups.”
In addition, due to how the brain develops over a lifetime, people in late adolescence (ages eighteen to twenty-four) are inherently more vulnerable to problems from social media than older users. From infancy into early adulthood, the brain matures from back to front. During late adolescence, “there is a particular flurry of activity in the middle part of the brain, which is associated with rewards and social feedback,” write coauthors Frances Jensen and Amy Nutt in The Teenage Brain. In short, late adolescent brains are hardwired for comparison to peers, and social media creates opportunities for continuous social feedback.
‘Goal one is to have students guide, curate, and moderate regular conversations about how social media is affecting their lives. Goal two is for students to work together to put limits around their use of social media.’
Loneliness and disconnection; anxiety and depression; cyberbullying and harassment; and eating disorders and body dysmorphia are the major ways social media can negatively affect college students’ mental health, according to Douglas T. Buzenski, a Capital University psychotherapist. Problematic comparisons to peers and the fear of missing out are major factors in each of these.
- Loneliness and disconnection
“I’ve used social media to prove that I have friends. Really everyone on Facebook or Instagram wants to show that they’re happy, life is great, and they have tons of friends. I’ll often see someone posting about something they have that I don’t, like a boyfriend, and I’ll feel really lonely and sad. I can see that everyone else is having fun together while I am by myself.”—Sarah, a recent graduate of a large private university on the East Coast
Recent studies show that loneliness is prevalent among young adults. In an August 2023 Gallup poll of college students, 39 percent said they had experienced loneliness in the past twenty-four hours. Researchers believe that social media is a major factor in the loneliness epidemic. “Although there are benefits to seeking community online, students use social media as a substitute for deficits in their face-to-face or traditional social environment,” says Benjamin Johnson, co-editor of the journal Media Psychology. “But it’s not a complete substitute and can be damaging when it doesn’t give students the social connections they need.”
Social media can also create false intimacy and an illusion of closeness, leading to confusion about real friendships and increased feelings of isolation, explains Linda Charmaraman, founder and director of the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab. Students may have numerous friends on a site, but interactions are frequently limited to “liking” or commenting on someone’s post. They don’t necessarily—or often—lead to meaningful interactions or establish lasting intimate connections. A lonely student is also more vulnerable to anxiety and depression, Charmaraman explains.
- Anxiety and depression
“I get bothered when my posts don’t get enough ‘likes.’ Recently, a post of mine only got a hundred ‘likes’ when I usually get at least two hundred. I checked over and over again, but that’s all the ‘likes’ it got. First, that made me feel anxious and then really depressed. I kept trying to figure out why people didn’t like my post. What did it say about me? I have 42,000 friends on Instagram, but no one likes me?”—Robert, a sophomore at a public university in the Midwest
Not getting enough validation on social media—or fewer ‘likes’—can significantly increase the risk of depression and anxiety for those in late adolescence, according to a 2020 study led by researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Feedback from peers, especially peer approval, plays a large role in how the members of this age cohort view themselves. “Not getting enough ‘likes’ actually causes adolescents to reduce their feelings of self-worth,” explains David Yeager, a coauthor of the study.
A follow-up study, also by researchers at UT-Austin, showed that the adolescents who had the most negative reactions to receiving fewer ‘likes’ were apt to attribute this paucity to flaws in their own character. These students experienced feelings of rejection when they did not receive the validation they were seeking through social media. In addition, social media usage takes time away from activities that are key for combating depression and anxiety, such as exercise and sleep.
- Cyberbullying and harassment
“I’ve gotten many hateful comments online—there’s a lot of cyberbullying against transgender people. People have refused to use the name I chose when I came out and have also referred to me as ‘it.’ People have said that I’m sick and need help or that I’m only doing this for attention. It’s to be expected, but it’s exhausting.”—Kaz, a sophomore at a liberal arts college on the West Coast
A 2023 study sponsored by the American Counseling Association found that almost 22 percent of college and university students reported being bullied online, most often on Facebook and Instagram, and 38 percent knew someone who had been bullied online. Perpetrators of cyberbullying in college usually also engaged in this behavior during middle and high school, but attacks in college are more subtle and less likely to involve physical threats.
Cyberbullying in college often includes sexual harassment, criticisms of identity, or revealing personal information about a student’s sexual orientation or health without permission. College and university students who experience cyberbullying have higher rates of depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide, according to the National Institutes of Health. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are more likely than their peers to face cyberbullying. Body shaming, or making critical comments about the size or shape of someone else’s body, is one of the most common forms of cyberbullying.
- Body dysmorphia and eating disorders
“I’m always looking at other women’s selfies on Instagram and thinking about how thin and perfect they are. I’ve seen meal plan contests online where everyone’s bragging about how little they eat or showing off how you can see their ribs because they’re so thin or that their kneecaps are bigger than their thighs. Then I look at myself and think that I’m not good enough. I’m gross and fat. I eat too much. It all gets inside my head.”—Nancy, a junior at a liberal arts college on the East Coast
Social media usage “leads to body image concerns, eating disorders/disordered eating, and poor mental health,” concluded a 2023 review of fifty research studies in PLOS Global Public Health. Disturbing content gets more engagement on social media, so the algorithm rewards harmful content—making it more likely to show up on a user’s feed, psychologist Jean Twenge explains. So, when a student looks on Instagram or TikTok for information about something relatively harmless, like a healthy diet, they may end up down a rabbit hole into a pro-ana website—an online community that promotes anorexia nervosa as a lifestyle—rather than recognizing it as a serious mental health condition.
People also curate themselves on social media, including digitally altering photos to present the best possible image of themselves. “People who are prone to body image issues and body dissatisfaction may lack media literacy to know that many online images are doctored,” Charmaraman says. “When they see perfect selfies on social media, they become more obsessed with their own body image.” Ultimately, eating disorders and body dysmorphia become normalized on social media, according to Turkle.
Educators, researchers, and policymakers are now trying to find ways to address the adverse effects of social media on students’ mental health. Personal habits around social media get ingrained before students reach college, so key adjustments need to occur during K–12. Educators say that parents play a critical role in making changes happen.
“Social media elevates the peer relationship over the parental relationship,” Cunningham says. “The most valuable and practical response to the problems we’re seeing is for parents to invest more quality time in their children, really listening to them and working to understand their world.”
Parents can provide the foundations for responsible social media and technology use by setting boundaries, writes social psychologist Jonathan Haidt in his book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Rules can include no smartphones before high school and no social media before age sixteen. Parents can also serve as role models. Most children learn phone and social media behaviors from their parents, Braghieri explains. “By seeing their parents use social media responsibly,” he says, “they are more likely to adopt similar practices.”
Haidt and others are also advocating for phone-free schools. Students would store their phones, smartwatches, and other personal devices that can access the internet or send and receive text messages in phone lockers or locked pouches during the school day. This would increase in-person socializing, limit distractions, and reduce cyberbullying, among other benefits.
At the higher education level, “colleges and universities can help by teaching students about the potential negative effects of social media and promoting digital literacy to help students use platforms more mindfully,” Braghieri says. The problems caused or exacerbated by social media are also another reason for institutions to invest in more mental health support for students, he adds.
Institutions can encourage students to set limits on their social media use and take regular breaks to mitigate habit formation. “Students need sacred spaces where phones are not used,” Turkle says. “We need more gatherings and activities where students come together without their phones.”
Politicians, too, are focusing their attention on social media. President Joe Biden recently signed a bill that would ban TikTok, and members of Congress have questioned social media CEOs (including Zuckerberg) about the safety of social media for children and young adults. Advocates have suggested Congress pass legislation modeled on the European Union’s Digital Services Act, which holds social media platforms financially accountable for harm.
Calls for government intervention gained urgency on June 17, 2024, when US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recommended a warning label be placed on all social media platforms advising that adolescents’ use of the platforms could damage their mental health. “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency—and social media has emerged as an important contributor,” Murthy wrote in a guest essay for the New York Times that day. Evidence from tobacco studies, he wrote, “shows that warning labels can increase awareness and change behavior.”
Ultimately, social media is not going anywhere. “We live online and offline—that’s our reality,” Johnson says. “We’re present in physical space and virtual space. We’re all obligated to learn how to navigate both as best we can.”
Students themselves can play an important role in addressing the situation. “I’m nineteen. I am an adult,” says Robert, a sophomore at a public university in the Midwest. “You can’t make me not use my phone or get off Instagram. I have to take seriously how stressed out these sites make feel. I’m the one who needs to show myself some love and make a change.”
Illustrations by Glenn Harvey
State of Emergency
The nation’s top doctor is sounding the alarm about social media’s dangers to young people
US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy believes social media use is driving the adolescent mental health crisis. He is urgently calling for actions to tackle the problem, including asking Congress to mandate that a warning label be placed on all social media platforms. As Murthy points out, nearly half of adolescents feel worse about their body image because of social media, with a third of adolescent girls feeling addicted to these platforms. A third of adolescents stay up late using devices, mostly to be on social networking sites. In the following conversation with Liberal Education, Murthy discusses the steps colleges and universities can take to address problems with students’ social media use.
Why have you made social media and youth mental health a policy priority at this time?
We’re in the worst youth mental health crisis of the past thirty years, and social media is a major contributor. During my 2023 college campus tour, students acknowledged the benefits of social media but would then describe how it harmed their self-esteem and sense of safety. They spoke of getting bullied and harassed on social media and explained they had a hard time limiting their use. They said social media robbed them of sleep and in-person time with others. Institutional leaders also said that they’re having trouble managing the effects of social media on their students.
What steps can colleges and universities take to mitigate the negative effects of social media use on students’ mental health?
Colleges and universities should provide more on-campus digital health and hygiene training. Social media platforms are rapidly evolving, but there are no trainings or guardrails to help students understand possible sources of harm, how to limit excessive use, and how to do so in partnership with other students.
What’s the relationship between loneliness on campus and social media usage?
Loneliness is deeply felt among college students. Early in my recent campus tour, a student asked me, “How are we supposed to build connections with one another if the culture isn’t for people to talk to each other anymore?” I thought I’d misheard the question and asked her to repeat it—but students asked the same question at other universities I visited. I also noticed that dining halls were quiet, which is a stark contrast from ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago when they were often the loudest places on campus. I saw that students walk around campus and sit in dining halls with their earbuds in, looking at their phones or laptops, making it hard for others to talk with them.
Given the prominence of social media on campuses, what are realistic goals for colleges and universities that want to address these problems?
Goal one is to have students guide, curate, and moderate regular conversations on campus about how social media is affecting their lives. Goal two is for students to work together to put limits around their use of social media. When students collectively commit to behavior change, it’s much more sustainable than when an individual tries to make that commitment on their own.
How will warning labels on social media platforms help reduce the potential harms associated with social media use?
Data from years of warning labels on tobacco products demonstrate that labels are effective in increasing awareness of harms and changing people’s behavior and choices. Similarly, warning labels on social media platforms could boost recognition of the associated mental health harms for adolescents, such as doubling the risk of anxiety and depression.
However, a warning label by itself is not the entire solution. Congress must put guardrails in place to protect young people from excessively violent and sexual content, cyberbullying and harassment, exploitation and blackmail, and platform features that seek to manipulate developing brains into excessive use. We need to treat social media the same way we treat other potentially dangerous products students use.
Exclusive Content
Subscribe to unlock all issues and articles
You have reached the maximum number of free views. Please login or become a member to continue reading.