Social media is an integral part of daily life for most college students. As social media becomes increasingly influential, we must consider the emerging evidence that suggests social media’s impact on mental health and academic engagement is not negligible and must be addressed by the Kirkwood community.
Cognitive impacts of short-form social media usage provide an area of concern. A global survey reported that 68% of young social media users across the world experienced problems in focusing on tasks after using social media such as TikTok. This is in line with other research indicating that excessive social media usage can lead to a shorter attention span, making it harder for students to concentrate on their studies.
For students with other responsibilities such as jobs and personal lives, excessive social media usage can interfere with productivity and sleeping patterns, all of which impact performance in a negative manner.
The mental health issues go beyond distraction. An eMarketer 2025 review of research on the subject found that “frequent use of TikTok and other such platforms is associated with increased levels of stress and anxiety among young people.”
Kirkwood students are growing up in a digital world where everything is online. All those notifications and the whole “fear of missing out” thing make social media feel like something we just can’t escape.
But we really need to think more about the price we’re paying in terms of our attention and even our emotional stability. Instead of unintentional screen time, it could benefit students to implement explicit boundaries for how they use their devices or join educational programs on digital well-being.
Social media is definitely here to stay, and it brings a lot of good things with it.
Look, if we really care about students’ well-being and how well they do in school, we need to get serious.
We can’t just wave off these platforms as innocent background noise; we have to seriously consider how they mess with our thoughts and what we do.
Categories: Opinion
