By K. Dey, J. Gentilman, P. Inthisane & J. Zeising
Introduction
The pervasive influence of Instagram among college students disrupts student’s academic performance and their commitment to school tasks by diverting their attention, fostering procrastination, and promoting detrimental comparison habits. Instagram has an impact on higher education, so it is important to raise awareness to begin implementing effective interventions.
Social media has changed how humans interact by presenting nearly infinite avenues for interaction, exploiting our natural inclination for social contact. During friendly interactions, dopamine is released in our brain’s reward center; this loop previously provided little opportunity for distraction.
During our deep dive into the influence of social media and Instagram addiction, we conducted research. A short survey was created that asked participants various questions related to their personal Instagram use and how it may affect their work in college. The questions measure how much time was spent on Instagram, the amount of time and effort put into their academics, their average performance on tests, and their GPA. Respondents consisted of 26 college students, which offers a small snapshot of college student perspectives on Instagram use. This data will become relevant later.
What is Social Media Addiction?
“Social Media Addiction is a behavioral addiction that is characterized as being overly concerned about social media, driven by an uncontrollable urge to log on to or use social media, and devoting so much time and effort to social media that it impairs other important life areas.” (Hillard, 2024). The “Cognitive-Affective Model of Social Media Addiction” (Kuss & Griffiths, 2017) proposes that social media addiction arises from the interplay between cognitive factors (e.g., craving, loss of control) and emotional factors (e.g., mood modification, withdrawal symptoms).
This addiction disrupts college students’ study time by diverting their attention due to the sheer volume of content available. The stimuli cause opportunities for distraction that result in users struggling to maintain focus on tasks and activities. This results in the time spent on a task/activity increasing while the level of productivity decreases.
The Widespread Impact of Social Media
Social Media has had an extensive impact on society and has grown exponentially more than nearly every technology before it. Its widespread impact can be seen in how people interact with each other, how they consume and interact with content, and how they can express themselves. However, social media addiction in turn is also becoming more prevalent than ever. Many sources report rates between 5-10% of the world’s population who use social media as social media addicts. A social media addict is someone who uses social media more than three hours per day, every day. More troublesome is data among younger demographics. Dixon (2022) reported that 40% of adults aged 18-22 felt they self-reported that they are addicted to social media. Most young people who consistently use social media report feeling some negative side effects as a result of their use.
Young individuals are growing up surrounded by social media and we are seeing the active developmental impacts. Statistics of addiction and associated negative behaviors regarding social media are likely to get worse if not addressed. Young people who have never grown up in a world without social media are particularly vulnerable to its potential downfalls. That’s why the widespread impact of social media must be addressed now rather than later. Social media like Instagram has the potential to penetrate every aspect of a person’s life, often in negative ways.
Causes of Social Media Addiction
Social Media’s impact on society is hard to deny, especially among younger generations. The success of social media and its subsequent addiction in some individuals is deeply rooted in the science of the brain. Namely, how the neurotransmitter dopamine impacts how a human brain perceives “good” behavior and rewards it. Dopamine is a chemical produced in the brain that plays a role in motivating what is deemed as good behavior. These behaviors could be eating certain foods, exercising, defending against threats, and most importantly, having successful social interactions. Dopamine rewards these behaviors so that we will repeat them (Haynes, 2018).
Social media, particularly Instagram, is so successful because of its ability to reward social interactions with other human beings on an unprecedented scale. Instagram makes other people’s lives readily accessible to view and appreciate at the swipe of a finger. It also makes it incredibly easy to share your life with others and connect with nearly as many people as you desire. Social connections matched with Instagram’s “fun” nature make it a rewarding experience for the brain. However, the overabundance of these qualities also means it can easily become addictive and detract from other areas of life. The human brain has a difficult time differentiating between behavior that appears rewarding and behavior that is done too much to the detriment of the individual and because of this, it can be difficult to control how someone interacts with social media.
Psychological Factors
Phones are the primary driving force for this dopamine to be so addicting for many people. Our phones allow us to view posts at any time, without knowing the context of the pictures we are seeing. One of the mental challenges secretly deriving from Instagram is social and body comparison which decreases self-esteem and increases social anxiety.
According to research from CFAH.org published in January of 2023, 41.7% of young adults from the ages 18-29 suffer from anxiety compared to the National Library of Medicine saying “During the 1950s and 1960s, anxiety was the emblematic mental health problem in the United States, and depression was considered to be a rare condition.” The interesting thing is that the average graduation rate in 1955 was 73.3% according to NAS.org and the graduation rate in 2023 was 63% according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. There have been many changes in the social and mental aspects of college in the 1950s and 1960s, but one of the most notable changes is the advancement of technology which has now played a major role in young adults’ lives since the early 2000s.
Personal Social Media Survey
Based on the personal survey we conducted, we saw some interesting comments on the potential consequences of the usage of technology. Interestingly, when asked if they thought their peers used Instagram too much, 16 out of 26 people answered yes, six people answered that they use Instagram a lot but not too much, or that other social media was more addicting. The other four people chose not to answer. When asked if they were addicted to Instagram, only eight of the 26 people said they are or were addicted to another social media site such as TikTok. 14 out of the 26 individuals said they were not addicted to Instagram or did not have a profound impact on them. Whether they acknowledge the problem or not, the negative impact of social media is still prevalent in all of our lives.
When asked about some of the potential consequences and issues regarding Instagram use and its impact on college academics, there were some common ideas ranked by the frequency mentioned in our survey.
Common Potential Consequences and Issues
- Instagram is distracting from important things
- Procrastination is easy
- More interesting than studying/assignments
- Easy to waste time scrolling
- Brain fog (trouble in concentration and memory)
- Often stressful and demotivating
- Causes between other people
- Content shared creates privacy concerns
Many potential negatives were included on the list but there were some neutral or positive comments regarding Instagram as well.
Neutral or Positive Comments
- Helps keep in contact with friends and family
- Instagram doesn’t impact behavior negatively
- Other social media is worse than Instagram
- Instagram can be used for social groups and information purposes
Marketing of Instagram
As can be seen with our survey, Instagram marketers can take advantage of the data they collect on users and can shape an experience in a way that favors the individual user. They can pull in users because when people take pictures, they take them due to the “Anxiety that we feel if we don’t capture this moment it will disappear forever” (Baer, 2014), and Instagram is a place where they can store or share those moments. They also provide filters that allow users to create better and more personalized photos compared to the built-in camera apps on their devices (Baer, 2014). The comment section that they have created for every post allows users to be more personable with other users. As well as create a network among them. There are also features such as direct and private messaging which allows for users to share posts and communicate with each other either in a one-on-one setting or in a group setting.
Furthermore, Instagram understands how often users scroll past certain amounts of posts, therefore they decided that between 3-4 posts on a user’s feed, there would be an ad to promote products that are related to what they associate with the user. Depending on how much a user has scrolled through their feed, Instagram pushes suggested content to try to create an algorithm that is more suited for the user.
Personal Reflection
This team has experienced consequences such as social anxiety and body dysmorphia due to social media. However, it hasn’t taken too much of a toll on our grades. Although, we have seen these effects on our friends and roommates. We have seen our friends start assignments at the last minute or miss them completely because they forgot about them. Social media is another distraction that takes its toll on the academic success of students.
We suggest limiting your time on social media. Set timers both on your device or on an outside clock to measure your time spent on apps. Hold yourself accountable and turn the app off when the timer is up. Another suggestion is to look into apps, such as “Digital Well-being,” which will shut down the app once you have reached your time limit, restricting you from going over your time. Other outside programs help in addiction recovery against social media.
Conclusion
Instagram continues to create an addiction among college students which then impacts their behavior. The addiction disrupts students when they are studying or even doing other simple tasks that may require their attention. It can also cause anxiety when they are in class and are not allowed to use their phones as they are unable to check their social media apps constantly. These factors allow marketers to sell products and essentially continue to grow users’ addictions.
As Instagram and other social media platforms continue to grow and become more regular within society, there should be precautions taken to help prevent or lessen addiction. The idea of breaks and social media schedules should be regularly reinforced to help reduce the time spent on social media apps. Social Media apps should also only be used for important matters such as communicating with others and not for constant scrolling through content.
References:
Baer, D. (2014, November 18). The psychology behind why Instagram is so addictive. Business Insider. Retrieved March 6, 2024, from
Dixon, S.J. (2022) U.S. internet users addicted to social media 2019, by age group.
Gupta, Taruni (2024, January 1). The Interplay between Social Media Addiction, Emotional Exhaustion, and Social Media Fatigue: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature. ProQuest Central. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
Haynes, T. (2018, May 1). Dopamine, Smartphones & You: A battle for your time. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
Hillard, J. (2024, March 3). Social Media Addiction. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
Kuss, D.J. & Griffiths, M.D. (2017), Social networking sites and addiction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), 31.
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