How Social Media Harms College Students’ Mental Health
By Movieguide® Contributor
Studies conducted on college students revealed that social media and smartphone use directly correlate with poor mental health.
“An online survey of 622 university students from China, Taiwan and Malaysia found those who used their smartphone and social media excessively were also more likely to experience mental health conditions,” NDTV World reported.
“In particular, students experienced greater levels of nomophobia—fear of not having an operating smartphone at hand—and weight-related self-stigma—where someone devalues themselves because of weight concerns, usually that they are overweight,” NDTV World said.
Each student spent at least 4.5 hours a day on social media. The studies also discovered the students had higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than their peers.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Teenagers who spend more time on social media have increased depression, according to recent studies. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study placing suicide as the second leading cause of death amongst individuals aged 10-34…
Nomophobia, the irrational fear of being without a cellphone is rising in teenagers along with Internet Addiction Disorder. Nomophobia effects 53% of all mobile users, shown in a study done in the U.K. Only 47% of mobile users felt that they could turn their phones off without anxiety.
A study in China found that many social media-addicted students also suffer from poor sleep quality. All of this negatively affects students’ academic performance.
Another study reported, “Prolonged use of social networking sites for nonacademic purposes…can distract students from their academic work, adversely affect their academic performance, social interactions, and sleep duration, and lead to a sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity, which in turn can render them vulnerable to non-communicable diseases and mental health problems.”
Clinical psychologist Melissa Hunt says that addicts’ health will improve if they cut down on their social media usage. She suggests that users limit it to 30 minutes per day to have a healthier lifestyle.
However, when it comes to kids and teenagers, some say that 0 minutes is better. Movieguide® has reported on many parents who found that to be the case.
Movieguide® previously reported on why HGTV star Erin Napier keeps her daughters away from social media:
HGTV star Erin Napier revealed why she keeps her kids off of technology and away from social media…
After that experience, Napier discussed social media with her husband, Ben Napier, and they decided they would keep their children off of technology in general, especially social media.
“We don’t want our kids to be disconnected. We always have said, ‘We’ll get landlines so they can call each other, and then when they’re old enough to drive, we’ll get them flip phones, and they can call and text each other,” she said…
Napier’s oldest daughter has noticed that her life is different from most other kids.
“One time she asked, ‘What are they doing on there?’ I said, ‘I don’t really know.’ She said, ‘But you said you use your phone for work,’ and I said ‘Yeah, that is what I use it for. But phones also have a bad place, a scary place that I want to protect you from. You don’t need to see the scary things,” she recalled.
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