Social Media: Is It Changing Our College Experience?
Social media has taken over society in the past decade, regardless of the age category.
Although every generation is affected by the flourish of social media, college students, in particular, are feeling tremendous positive and negative effects.
Social media as a positive
Social media has a negative connotation in the recent past. Even when it is painted in a bad light, social media has many positives.
One of the largest uses of social media among college students is collaborating and networking. Across all universities, college students have learned that technology is the main resource for them to collaborate with one another. Students work together on projects as well as studying skills during the school year.
“When it comes to education, nothing has streamlined group projects and studying quite a like technology. From Google Docs to Flowboard, there are now more tools than ever for student collaboration” — Kim Beasley
Many students work together on Google Docs, Google Slides, and even Flowboard.
Thank you, Linkedin
Linkedin is primarily used for college students and people with a higher education level. It allows one to build a profile based on educational skills and experience.
“For those students in college or higher education, networking is becoming increasingly important. Thankfully with social media platforms like LinkedIn networking can be done from the comfort of your home” — Kim Beasley
Linkedin is known to be one of the most favorable networking sites that is beneficial to one getting a job and connecting with others. Students are able to connect with potential employees based on their majors.
No place like home
According to researcher Russell Heimlich, roughly 67% of college students say they use social media to stay in touch with family.
Thankfully, this generation of college students is able to see their family and friends lives through their phones, helping to eliminate any home-sick feelings.
Another great aspect of social media uses among college students now incoming college students can meet their roommates and classmates before moving into college.
When I moved into college, I met my roommate through the Quinnipiac Facebook group. This made me feel more comfortable moving in because I was able to keep in touch with my roommate all summer through social media.
FOMO, the good and the bad.
Loosely defined, FOMO (the fear of missing out) is a feeling of anxiety and discomfort that follows missing a social event. Although this feeling is never a good one it may force us to get out of bed.
As a college student experiencing a lot of stress, it is easy to slip into depression and disengage from society. Speaking from experience, nothing gets me out of bed more than knowing my friends have a fun-filled night planned for us.
There is even evidence for this! Researchers Meredith David and James Roberts conducted a study where they investigated college FOMO and its effects.
“FoMO has a positive indirect effect on social connection through social media intensity, suggesting that FoMO may, in some cases, be a good thing leading to enhanced social connection.” — David, Roberts
Though, this can get tricky. There is something social going on almost every night of college, and it is easy to let FOMO be the reason you are missing assignments.
Freshman year of college, I fell victim to FOMO. I experienced intense anxiety when I saw my friends at a party and I was in. I began to skip work, miss class, and fell behind in all my classes.
Lesson learned- too much FOMO can be a bad thing.
You can’t believe everything that you see
Something really important to note is that people are not posting their bad days. When I am scrolling through social media, it is rare that anyone ever posts about the negatives.
It is almost as if social media is a parallel universe where everything is positive, and everyone’s life is perfect- this is obviously not true.
Although social media can be a great thing, college students are not educated enough about the harmful effects of social media.
The dark side of social media
With every positive, there comes a negative, especially with college student's social media use.
Social media has been proven to cause reduced learning capabilities and attention spans in college students, according to an article called “Negative Effects of Social Networking Sites for Students”.
College students who use social media while studying have shown a reduction in their focus and attention. I am living proof of this.
I am constantly scrolling through social media while I study and I find myself having to go back and re-read whatever I just studied. I also realized that having my phone on me in class reduces my ability to learn. I am so worried about what people are posting that I have a hard time focusing on the lesson in front of me.
Am I depressed or have I just been scrolling for too long?
There have been many links between negative psychological symptoms and social media use.
In a study done by graduate student Jennifer Lippold, it was found that social media use can be positively correlated with depression and anxiety among college students.
Seeing your peers post with a lot of people can make you think you don’t have enough friends, or you don’t know as many people as that specific person. This type of social media use leads to a rabbit hole of comparison.
I am a junior in college right now, and still struggle with my mental health when it comes to social media. I always compare myself to other girls my age, ones that appear richer, better looking, and overall like they have a better life than I do.
Using social media like this has caused me too many anxious and depressed emotions. Now I realize that this was a toxic way to use social media. I started to take breaks from social media and unfollowed anything that made me feel less of myself.
Now, this is all easier said than done. We must keep in mind the positives, the negatives, and everything in between, social media is a resource. Try not to let it be much deeper than that.
