College students struggle to balance social media and mental health

Aubrey Dillehay

Staff Writer

Tori Campbell picks up her phone to relax or procrastinate on homework, but before she knows it, she’s spent way more time than she meant reading things that stress her out even more.

“I find myself lying down on TikTok getting lost in whatever is on her screen,” said Campbell. “I feel like by the end of my time doomscrolling I become stressed, especially if I wasted a lot of time doomscrolling.”

“Doomscrolling” was the Oxford English Dictionary’s 2020 word of the year and is defined as the action of constantly scrolling through and reading depressing or negative news on social media or news sites, particularly on a smartphone.

Campbell, a freshman, is part of a generation being studied after growing up with smart phones. According to Inside Higher Ed, a fall 2025 survey by Echelon Insights found that 54 percent of U.S. students say they spend five hours or more on recreational screen time, including scrolling social media, streaming or gaming. 

“It’s such a normal part of culture now that I think people feel like if they are not on social media, then the rest are really missing out,” said Emily Stevens,  an intern for the Counseling Services Center.

Students reach for their phones when procrastinating and try to use scrolling on social media as a way to avoid starting assignments or dealing with difficult situations. This can start as a little break from working, and then it turns into hours of scrolling, said Stevens. 

“It’s so common for people to have difficulty managing their time with school already, and social media seems to be a big distractor,” said Stevens.

Part of what makes doomscrolling hard to stop is the way different social media platforms are designed. Stevens describes “predatory algorithms” where users are repeatedly shown similar types of content based on what they interact with.

“If you are in a negative headspace and you look something up, they are going to continue to grab videos with that particular angle,” said Stevens. “You might think you are getting more of a variety of information when really it’s kind of feeding on your fear.”

Much of that information comes in short, emotionally loaded content and it can feel personal to what students are going through. That constant exposure could reduce attention spans over time and make it harder to engage with longer videos, said Stevens.

Starting the day with social media can make the brain crave the quick dopamine hits from short videos, making it harder to shift into productive tasks later, said Stevens.

“It’s almost like a drug. The things you are doing in the early hours of your day are kind of priming your brain for the rest of the day,” said Stevens.

Campbell has experienced feeling like she uses scrolling to numb out or avoid other things. 

“It has impacted me negatively by increasing procrastination, decreasing meaningful conversations, and allowing comparison to creep into my life,” she said. “Doomscrolling sometimes consumes me and fills up empty space in my brain when I could be putting that energy into things of Christ.”

Stevens said that the amount of news students are consuming in a day exceeds what humans are naturally able to process.

“We’re really meant for more of a college capacity. When you are getting all these issues from all around the world, it can be overwhelming,” said Stevens.

Cutting out news altogether is not the answer, but making sure to set healthy boundaries when it comes to how much news students are getting daily is a good start, she said.  This could look something like using blocking apps or tools like “Brick” to temporarily restrict access to distracting platforms, said Stevens.

“Different social media apps are designed so that you’ll over-consume. Try to make changes as you see fit, but not being too hard on yourself, is important,” said Stevens.

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