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A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective

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• Published: 01 March 2023
• Volume 28 , pages 11921–11950, ( 2023 )

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• Eva Perez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4476-899X 1 ,
• Stefania Manca 2 ,
• Rosaura Fernández-Pascual 3 &
• Conor Mc Guckin 1  

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The use of social media in higher education has been demonstrated in a number of studies to be an attractive and contemporary method of teaching and learning. However, further research and investigation are required in order to align social media's pedagogical benefits with the theoretical perspectives that inform educational practices. It is the objective of this study to provide a systematic literature review using bibliometric analysis techniques and content analysis to provide a map of research produced between 2009 and 2021. This study aims to identify theoretical frameworks, current research trends, and patterns in this field. A total of 772 publications were analysed using bibliometric methodology, while a subset of 55 publications were analysed using content analysis. As indicated by the results, there is still a growing interest in this area of research, with recent studies still focusing on attitudes towards the use of social media in teaching and learning. According to the content analysis, technology acceptance theories and learning theories are the most commonly used reference theories. This field has yet to elaborate on pedagogical theory, and there is a tendency to rely primarily on technology acceptance models rather than pedagogical models. A discussion of future practice and research implications is also provided.

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1 Introduction

The popularity of social media, among students, has increased dramatically in recent years because of technological advances in Web 2.0 tools (Eid & Al-Jabri, 2016 ; Tess, 2013 ). Indeed, social media has attracted over three billion active users across the globe (Statista, 2022 ). Such technologies have demonstrated their potential for learning and teaching due to its functions for document exchange, virtual communication and knowledge information (Hosen et al., 2021 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2017 ). Social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and online games have been widely used for information gathering and dissemination, collaborative learning, and online social and professional connections (Cao et al., 2013 ). Most recently, Manca’s ( 2020 ) review of Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and WhatsApp revealed that the two most common activities used for learning by students were content development and discussion for peer learning/assessment. The potential use of social media for teaching and learning activities has received an increased amount of interest and attention from the scholarly community (Barrot, 2021a ). A number of studies have presented evidence regarding the use of social media by academics for personal, professional, and teaching purposes (Johnson & Veletsianos, 2021 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2016a , 2016b ). In terms of specific social media platforms, some researchers have found that Facebook groups are an effective tool to support learning, affording benefits not offered by traditional online Learning Management Systems (LMS) (Barrot, 2018 ; Chugh & Ruhi, 2018 ; Hew, 2011 ; Niu, 2019 ). Similarly, Tang and Hew ( 2017 ) noted the potential of promoting positive learning using Twitter to access and create digital content and collaboration between learners. Recently, studies have extended towards the utility of social media platforms such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat. Manca ( 2020 ) notes that whilst these platforms have been gaining considerable attention among young people, they have been largely overlooked in the scholarly literature.

Social media, however, has also been shown to challenge traditional beliefs about education and pedagogy in schools and universities. According to some scholars (Manca & Ranieri, 2017 ), educators should pay particular attention to the following themes, primarily communication between students and teachers and professional conduct, as well as the integration of social networking practices into academic and teaching practices from a technological and educational perspective. Besides, other challenges included cultural and social factors that resulted in the erosion of teachers' traditional roles, the management of relationships with students, and privacy threats. Other factors included psychological resistance, traditional visions of instruction, a lack of technical support, perceived risks, institutional issues, pedagogical views, pragmatic reasons, and values.

Despite the increasing level of interest and the growing body of empirical research on specific uses of social media (Alshalawi, 2022 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2016c ; Sobaih et al., 2016 ), very few studies have been conducted to systematically examine how academics are utilizing social media within their teaching engagements and have mapped the use of social media in education across the various disciplinary fields (Barrot, 2021a ; Rehm et al., 2019 ).

Although social media use in higher education has become relatively common (Barrot, 2021a ), there is still much to be researched in order to develop a better understanding of its use as a teaching and learning tool (Sutherland et al., 2020 ). In fact, research has demonstrated that evidence-based pedagogical approaches informed by relevant empirical research are weak (Chugh et al., 2021 ). Thus, there is a necessity for further empirical work, grounded in teaching, learning, and educational technology theories, that can advance this growing field of education (Valtonen et al., 2022 ). The challenge for the development of a pedagogy for social media integration is to encourage robust and theoretically driven research that can explore the application of established learning theories and the facilitation of social media in teaching and learning (Churcher et al., 2014 ). Our belief is that focusing on the need for theoretical integration can help mitigate some of the shortcomings associated with the challenges described above.

The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the use of social media for teaching and learning purposes in higher education (2009–2021) utilizing bibliometric methods and content analysis. A primary objective of the study is to assess the degree of theoretical soundness of the studies published to date and to map the current state of the art in regard to the use of social media in teaching and learning.

This study focuses on two aspects of value: on the one hand, it examines the theoretical robustness of studies regarding teaching and learning processes based on the use of social media in higher education that have been published to date; on the other hand, it employs a mixed-method approach combining bibliometric analysis with qualitative analysis to examine the teaching and learning processes. It is our understanding that this is the first study that attempts to accomplish these objectives.

2 Theoretical background

2.1 learning benefits of social media in higher education.

Various studies have demonstrated the use of social media as a supportive and interactive tool for learning in higher education (Everson et al., 2013 ; Greenhow & Galvin, 2020 ; Manca, 2020 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2013 ). Some studies have focused on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (Everson et al., 2013 ) or Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and WhatsApp (Manca, 2020 ). The benefits of using social media in higher education has been shown to promote student-centred pedagogies (Camas Garrido et al, 2021 ). For example, the most commonly reported positive effect of Facebook is its capacity as a learning tool for enhanced communication, collaboration, and sharing of information (Niu, 2019 ). Indeed, Facebook groups are the most reliable feature to conduct learning activities (Manca & Ranieri, 2016c ), whereas Twitter has most commonly been used for communication and assessment purposes (Tang & Hew, 2017 ). In general, the use of social media has a positive impact on student learning. However, this is not necessarily attributed to the technologies per se, but to how the technologies are used, and how certain pedagogy and/or instructional strategy is developed (Hew & Cheung, 2013 ). As argued by Greenhow et al. ( 2019 ), educators should show clarity in studying evidence-based pedagogical approaches to teaching.

Some researchers (e.g., Churcher et al., 2014 ) have reported upon how the application of learning theories can facilitate social media integration in order to create virtual communities of practice and generate positive learning outcomes. The main focus of social constructivist learning theories is on learning as a process of active discovery and the construction of knowledge in a social and cultural context (Aubrey & Riley, 2016 ). In this line, social media support social constructivism theory (Dron & Anderson, 2014 ) as it is perceived by educators to provide direction for social constructivist teaching styles (Rambe & Nel, 2015 ). In addition, the connectivist approach views learning as a network phenomenon influenced by technology and socialization (Siemens, 2006 ), as learners are encouraged to engage in peer-to-peer dialogue, sharing resources and promote communication skills (Siemens & Weller, 2011 ). From this perspective, social media can provide a platform for mixing learning and social activities (Manca, 2020 ).

In general, while students at all levels seem to harbour positive views on academic uses and applications of social media, educators appear to be somewhat more cautious than students (Piotrowski, 2015 ). Academics are most likely to use social media for research and career development than to support learning and teaching activities (Chugh et al., 2021 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2016b ). This is likely due to the fact that it can be difficult for educators to maintain best practice of pedagogy while continuously learning how to incorporate emerging technologies (Churcher et al., 2014 ). Existing research on the use of social media in higher education has been mostly about the effectiveness of social media as a teaching and learning tool (Manca & Ranieri, 2013 , 2016b ; Tess, 2013 ), but there has been a lack of empirical data (Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017 ) and support from theory (Al-Qaysi et al., 2020 ).

Ngai et al. ( 2015 ) argue that the development of a theoretical framework for work in this area can be supported by a combination of both technology and educational theories. Al-Qaysi et al. ( 2020 ) found that whereas the Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT: Katz, 1959 ) and the social constructivism theory (Wertsch, 1985 ) are the most widely used educational theories in social media, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM: Davis, 1989 ) and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT: Venkatesh & Davis, 2000 ) are the most extensively used technology theories in studying social media adoption in education.

Indeed, there is a lack of theoretically based research that could lead to a coherent set of practices regarding the use of social media use in higher education. This shortcoming of theoretical development in pedagogical approaches to the use of social media in higher education has important implications also for social media literacies. Manca et al. ( 2021 ) remind us that educators who do not integrate learning theory into their teaching practices run the risk of having a superficial understanding of the construction and development of meaning in favour of centring technology.

This review of the literature purposely focuses upon research that is theoretically grounded and examines the most recurrent models and theories adopted to support pedagogical use of social media in higher education.

2.2 Systematic reviews on social media in education

The increasing number of systematic reviews related to the use of social media in education highlights the importance of these reviews in shaping educational research, identifying future research directions, and bridging the research-practice divide (Chong et al., 2022 ). Scholars have adopted several approaches to systematic reviews of scientific literature: (1) qualitative synthesis (e.g., Manca, 2020 ; Niu, 2019 ); (ii) meta-analysis (also known as quantitative synthesis) (e.g., Al-Qaysi et al., 2020 ; Mnkandla & Minnaar, 2017 ); (iii) qualitative and quantitative synthesis (e.g., Greenhow & Askari, 2017 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2013 , 2016b ; Manca et al., 2021 ; Tang & Hew, 2017 ); (iv) bibliometric analysis (e.g., Barrot, 2021a ; Lopes et al., 2017 ; Rehm et al., 2019 ); and most recently (v) mixed methods approach using bibliometric analysis and qualitative analysis (e.g., Barrot, 2021b ).

Most recent systematic reviews have utilised bibliometrics—a quantitative analysis of the bibliographic characteristics of a growing body of literature (Lopes et al., 2017 ). Although there has been an increase in the use of this approach across various academic fields, the method is relatively new to educational research (Arici et al, 2019 ; Chen, Zhou & Xie, 2020 ; Gumus et al., 2018 ; Song et al, 2019 ). In the area of our interest, there has been a paucity of research that has used the bibliographic method, even in conjunction with more traditional approaches, such as qualitative ones.

In their bibliometric analyses, Lopes et al. ( 2017 ) explored the use of Facebook in educational research, used Web of Science as the database to generate 260 articles from multiples levels of screening. The study found that most articles focused on social media, student’s learning, and case study research designs. It validated the versatility of Facebook as a platform for teaching and learning across different countries and disciples, however it did not study theories or models that can best examine Facebook acceptance.

In their bibliometric analysis, Rehm and colleagues ( 2019 ) focused on multiple social media platforms. Their findings showed that five out of the top 20 cited papers across all journals on instructional design and technology scholarship between 2007 and 2017 were on social media, indicating the growing interest in this topic within educational research.

Barrot ( 2021a ) examined the scientific literature related to the use of social media for education. They found that, out of the 15 examined social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube attracted the greatest attention. The data also revealed that studies on Facebook (9 out of 10) stand out in terms of citation. These findings suggest a growing interest in the use of Facebook for educational purposes. The authors suggested two possible reasons for this. Firstly, as the number of social media platforms and active users increases, so too does the number of research projects that explore their pedagogical use. Secondly, the more sophisticated the platform, the more likely it is to be used for teaching and learning.

From this review, it can be seen that only a few studies so far have mapped the scientific literature of social media in higher education using a mixed method approach – more precisely, content and bibliometric analyses. To complement and extend these earlier reviews, the current systematic review mapped the scientific literature of social media as a teaching and learning tool, giving a wider coverage to determine which theoretical frameworks can best examine the acceptance and pedagogical use of social media in higher education. Thus, the current study was undertaken to understand the landscape of scholarly work in social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education, particularly its growth, geographical and publication distribution, speech patterns, referring to most commonly used terms or dominant terms, regarding the evolution of the term “social media”, and the analysis of theories / models that are used to examine social media acceptance and adoption in higher education.

3 Rationale and research question

In this study, social media is examined from a theoretical perspective, with a focus on studies which have used theory to help explain social media integration as a teaching and learning tool in higher education. A body of literature has developed recently that links theory with the use of social media in terms of pedagogical best practice. For example, the TAM model (Davis, 1989 ) was utilised to examine the educational outcomes of social media use in teaching (Cao et al., 2013 ), whereas social constructivism theory was used to investigate the potential of Facebook and wikis as collaborative learning tools (Churcher et al., 2014 ). Advancing previous traditional and single method approaches to reviewing literatures, this study advances a mixed-methods approach to explore connections among research articles published between 2009 and 2021. Specifically, this study addresses the following research questions:

What are the main characteristics of the scientific literature in terms of (a) year of publication, (b) publication outlets, (c) leading countries, and (d) affiliations and core authors?

What are the most frequent speech patterns and research trends within the studies?

What theoretical frameworks / models were employed in the studies to guide social media integration in education? And, which study aims are most commonly aligned with such frameworks / models?

A mixed methods approach combining quantitative (bibliometric analysis) and qualitative (content analysis) methods was used to develop a complementary picture of the research area in terms of context for trends (Plano Clark, 2010 ) and to triangulate findings in order that they may be mutually corroborated (Bryman, 2006 ). Qualitative content analysis is useful for “... the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systematic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns” (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005 ; p 1278). Bibliometric analysis is a rigorous, systematic, and innovative method for analysing publication productions and research trends (de Oliveira et al., 2019 ; Erfanmanesh & Abrizah, 2018 ). It enables the identification of relationships among different aspects of the scientific literature through the analysis of publications and documents according to specific characteristics, such as authors, journals, institutions and countries (Esen et al., 2020 ).

The analysed studies were sourced from ERIC and Web of Science and those published from 2009 to June 2021 were included. 2009 was the first recorded fit for the criteria of concern to this study, which is in line with recent studies that have highlighted that social media started to gain attention in 2010 (Valtonen et al., 2022 ). The Web of Science (WoS) was used as a search database in this study since it is the most important bibliometric database (Pranckutė, 2021 ), whereas ERIC on EBSCO databases was used as a subject specific database in education research (ERIC,  https://eric.ed.gov/?faq ).

To increase the accuracy of the current analysis, books, book chapters, and book reviews were excluded, with a focus on peer-reviewed articles, proceedings papers, and literature reviews (Leong et al., 2021 ).

The two databases were searched using the following search string:

(TS = (("social media" OR "social networking site*" OR facebook OR twitter OR Instagram)) AND TS = (("higher education" OR "third level" OR universit* OR college OR academic*)) AND TS = ((teaching OR learning OR "educational tool*"))) AND ((LA == ("ENGLISH")) NOT (DT == ("BOOK" OR "BOOK REVIEW" OR "BOOK CHAPTER"))

This study methodology is based on PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines (Moher et al., 2009 ). PRISMA supports a transparent approach for systematic reviews and ensures a replicable procedure (e.g., review protocol, search strategy, article selection criteria). When considering the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of literature the emphasis was upon studies assessing the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool and not, for instance, as a marketing / communication too. In addition, studies focused on English as a second language were excluded as these are often seen as courses that provide support to leaners, rather than leading to a defined exit award per se. Table 1 presents the screening criteria.

The first screening of sourced articles ( N  = 4,277) involved analyses of titles and abstracts. This process resulted in 812 records. Some reasons for exclusion included: studies related to studying English language; use of social media for communication purposes; studies focused on cyberbullying; social media addiction; social media marketing.

The second level of screening involved checking the full paper, classifying the study in terms of sources and to identify theoretical frameworks or models—hence selecting them for the content analysis. This resulted in 772 records, which were all eligible for bibliometric analysis. The following four characteristics were most predominant: (i) studies presenting a theoretical framework / model ( n  = 55), (ii) empirical studies about teaching and learning without theory ( n  = 221), (iii) studies about perceptions and attitudes without theory ( n  = 424), and (iv) conceptual studies ( n  = 72). For the content analysis, only the 55 studies that utilised a theoretical framework / model were included (Fig.  1 ).

The PRISMA flowchart

4.1 Procedure

Analyses commenced with bibliometric analysis of the 772 articles obtained through the second screening, identifying the main characteristics of the selected publications (year of publication, publication venues, authors, institutions, countries, and most frequent used terms).

Network visualization displaying the relationships among the main words used in abstracts were created using the VOS clustering technique (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010 ). VOSViewer software provides distance-based maps and identifies the clusters of co-occurring words, enabling identification of most used terms and the relationships between them (Van Raan, 2019 ; Waltman et al., 2010 ).

To display the dominant terms, full counting method has been considered (Leydesdorff & Park, 2016 ). Thus, each publication has the overall weight equal to Ni (Ni being the total number of terms in the “i”-publication) and each term has a weight of 1. The size of the circle and the label in the map is associated with the weight of a term. In general, the stronger the relationship between two terms, the closer they are located on the map. We have considered the “total link strength attribute”, which indicates the total strength of a term’s links with other terms (Gutiérrez-Salcedo et al., 2018 ). Whilst curved lines on the maps represent the links between terms, colours are used to indicate the cluster to which each term belongs.

Finally, the evolution of “social media” and other main terms used in abstracts were analysed and presented with the overlay visualization in Vosviewer (terms are coloured based on their year of publication). We used the viridis colour scheme obtained from Matplotlib, where by default, colours range from blue-green to yellow scheme.

For the second analytic component of the study, qualitative content analysis methods were applied to the 55 studies resulting from the second screening. The objectives were to gain an in-depth understanding of the theories/models employed in the studies and to identify the main research aims linked to the employed theories/models. Content analysis was based on a number of categories which were adapted from Manca and Ranieri ( 2013 ) and derived from analysis by author 1 and author 2. This process resulted in the following categories: (i) attitudes of social media as learning tool (studies which main aim was to investigate students’ or instructors’ attitudes towards the use of social media); (ii) social media as a supportive learning tool (studies that supported active collaborative learning, student engagement, effective communication, enhancing group task performance); (iii) efficacy of social media as learning tool (studies that focused on the impact of social media on different aspects of teaching and learning, such as: community building and informal learning). For the purpose of ensuring a level of reliability, an iterative process of analysis was carried by author 1 and author 2, and the individually derived codes were double-checked by comparing results. Once the set of codes had been recognised, dataset coding reliability was calculated (Cohen’s k = 0.85). The disagreement was resolved with discussion and subsequent consensus.

5.1 Study characteristics

Figure  2 provides the time evolution of the annual scientific production for the period analysed. The number of publications shows an upward trend until 2018, with two relatively higher values in 2015 and 2018. A slight decline is observed from 2019 onwards. The sharp drop during 2021 is due to the fact that the study covered the period between January and June of that year. We have applied a segmented linear regression (Liu et al., 1997 ), with two break points, in 2015 and 2018 (Liu & Qian, 2009 ). The segmented least squares forecast for the year 2021, provides an estimated annual value of 74 publications with a high reliability (R 2  = 0.94).

Number of papers on social media as a teaching and learning tool (2009–2021). *estimated value in 2021

Table 2 shows the number of publications by journal (conferences proceedings were not included). This represents the distribution of the journals with a production of seven or more records involving 91 publications (11.7% of the corpus). It was found that Computers & Education and Education and Information Technologies have published the most articles on social media as a teaching and learning tool, with a total of 18 articles each. The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology , Computers in Human Behaviour , and Internet and Higher Education had 13, 12, and 9 related articles, respectively.

The scholars who published the most articles are presented in Table 3 . Overall, the data set containing the 772 articles comprises a total of 2,754 authors. For the purpose of this particular set of analyses, details about professional profile and number of publications are focused on journals only. The average number of co-authors was 3.56. Therefore, authors with more than four relevant published articles were considered core authors in the aforementioned field. The list is a combination of nine leading and emerging scholars from wide geographical areas. As shown, three scholars are from universities in Malaysia, three from Romania, one from Hong Kong, one from Italy, and one from South Africa. The disciplinary areas of the core authors represent a variety of disciplines, with many of these related to the education and technological fields.

5.2 Dominant terms and research trends

The final part of the bibliometric analysed the most frequently represented words in abstracts to identify most used terms and research trends (Han & Ellis, 2019 ; Leung et al., 2017 ). Firstly, the empty words (e.g., connectors, conjunctions, prepositions, articles, adjectives) were omitted. Secondly, words whose frequency was less than 20 occurrences in abstracts were considered not relevant to the research and were excluded. Synonyms and acronyms were associated. Finally, 305 terms with the largest levels of occurrence in the abstracts were included in the analysis from a total of 22,079 words. The analysis of these terms is illustrated in Fig.  3 and Fig.  4 by means of five clusters, each represented by a different colour. The distribution of the number of keywords by year of publication is presented in Fig.  4 .

Most used words found in abstracts

Evolution over time of terms in abstracts

The word student was the most commonly used word in the abstracts ( n  = 2,156), followed by social media ( n  = 1,077), use ( n  = 1,043), Facebook ( n  = 858), and learning ( n  = 667) (see Table 6 in Appendix A for terms with more than 120 occurrences). These results indicate that the articles mostly focused on Facebook use as a social media for learning. Furthermore, the platforms that attracted the greatest attention were Facebook ( n  = 858) and Twitter ( n  = 274). Figure  3 shows the most used word in abstract. As can be seen, the high impact term “student” presents strong connections with use, social media, learning, technology, tool, social network, group, Facebook, and Twitter. Five clusters of terms were discovered as part of the visualization. Each cluster was constituted from a set of terms that are clearly delimited by their location in the map. These clusters reveal the presence of five thematic strands in the literature that focus on: (i) “student-education-platform-process-communication” (colour red); (ii) “Facebook-Twitter-participation-interaction” (green); (iii) “Learning-Use-Technology” (blue); (iv) “social media-university-social media use-social media platform-educational use” (yellow); and (v) “academic attitude-performance-intention-usefulness-satisfaction” (purple).

When the distribution of these words is shown on a year-by-year basis (Fig.  4 ), it is revealed that studies focused on the study of Facebook page, Facebook use, informal learning, and peripheral terms such as blog, community, video, or web, is located in the initial years under study. High impact terms such as Facebook, student, learning, use, education, or social network are published on average in studies between 2014 and 2016. The term “social media” is introduced from 2016, in papers between 2017–2018, linking it to terms such as “data”, “educational use”, and “educational tool”. From 2018 onwards, the focus of the studies is towards “attitudes”, “influence”, “intention”, “performance”, or “satisfaction”.

Four research trends are identifiable throughout the period of study (Table 4 ). From 2010–2014, studies were mainly focused on Facebook as a community of practice, blog, and for informal learning. From 2014–2016, Facebook was still relevant, but studies had more emphasis on the educational learning process of the use of Facebook by students. During the period of 2016–2018, the term “social media” peaked and studies were focused on social media for education and as an educational tool. From 2018 onwards, the focus of the studies was towards “attitudes”, “influence”, “intention”, “performance”, or “satisfaction”.

5.3 Theoretical frameworks/models

The findings show that only 55 studies out of 772 cited a theoretical framework or model, this is only 7% of total number of studies. Content analysis was used to analyse more in-depth information about the 55 selected papers. A total of 16 frameworks/models were identified. They were grouped into six categories of similarity. These are shown in Table 5 in relation to the number of citing studies per category. The number of citing studies is higher than the sample size ( n  = 55) because there are some studies that uses more than one framework/model. The most cited theoretical framework/model was technology acceptance models which were cited in 41 studies. This is followed by learning theories cited in 11 studies. Social capital theory/innovation diffusion theory is cited in 5 studies; uses and gratification theory/social gratification theory cited in 3 studies; lastly, Information systems success model/communication theory and theory of reasoned action/theory of planned behaviour are only cited in 2 studies, respectively.

Figure  5 shows the use of the main framework(s)/model(s) categories from 2013 to 2021. Figure  5 highlights that studies began citing theory in 2013, with further significant increases identifiable in 2017 and 2020. It also indicates that technology acceptance theories are predominantly the most employed theories in all years, 2020 having the highest publications.

Theoretical frameworks/models over time

The 55 studies were further analysed by study aims which were categorised using the following classification: (1) attitudes of social media as learning tool ( n  = 32); (2) social media as a supportive learning tool ( n  = 16); (3) efficacy of social media as learning tool ( n  = 7). The study aims over time are revealed in Fig.  6 . The results indicate that publications with the aim of investigating attitudes of social media as a learning tool are the most common with 2017 being the most popular year of publication.

Research aims over time

Finally, to represent the empirical relationships among the aims and the theoretical frameworks/models, a word co-occurrence analysis providing a similarity matrix was carried out (Hu et al., 2013 ). A measure of similarity is obtained by counting the co-occurrences (Yang et al., 2012 ), which makes it possible to represent the relationships (conceptual clustering) that exist among the aims and frameworks/models (Chen et al., 2019 ). Direct lines represent connections between the theoretical frameworks/models. Figure  7 indicates that the strongest relationship is presented by studies with the aim to explore attitudes of social media as learning tool by integrating a technology acceptance model. This is followed by information and communication theories being used to explain the efficacy of social media as learning tool. Learning theories are mostly related to studies that are aimed at exploring social media as a supportive learning tool.

Research aims & theoretical frameworks/models network

6 Discussion

The current study has mapped the scientific literature regarding the use of social media in higher education teaching and learning (2009 to 2021). The central aim was to document research trends, dominant terms, and the main characteristics of studies, with a focus on providing a new perspective on the theoretical groundings that may explain the pedagogical integration of social media within higher education teaching and learning.

These results extend the findings of other systematic literature reviews regarding social media use in education-conducted on single or multiple platforms (Lopes et al., 2017 ; Manca, 2020 ; Tang & Hew, 2017 )-and across various disciplinary fields (Barrot, 2021a ; Rehm et al., 2019 ). The main finding indicates a shift from studies focused on Facebook, as the most researched social media platform and its use by students for informal learning, to a more recent trend from 2018 onwards showing studies still focused on attitudes, intentions, and satisfaction of social media as a teaching and learning tool. This is aligned with results from the content analysis which showed that only a minority of studies report the use of theory, and those that do report research aims based on the investigation of attitudes towards social media as a learning tool by integrating a technology acceptance model.

The following sections discuss the three research questions of this study in relation to results concerning both the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool and its pedagogical integration.

6.1 Characteristics of the scientific literature

Overall, the data show a constant growing trend in the number of publications concerned with social media use in teaching and learning, with an increase in two different years (2015 and 2018). This trend confirms a growing interest in the research community regarding the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool (Bodily et al., 2019 ; Valtonen et al., 2022 ). One of the reasons for the rapid growth of research in this field may be related to the relevance of social media platforms in students’ daily lives. We anticipate that further studies will be conducted as new social media uses and applications increases. For example, since its launch in 2017, TikTok has become the fastest growing social media platform worldwide, reaching nearly 83 million monthly active users as of February 2021 (Statista, 2021 ). From an educational perspective, TikTok has proven to be an effective pedagogical tool in corporal expression courses (Escamilla-Fajardo et al., 2021 ) and for political participation and civic engagement (Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik, 2021 ).

In terms of publication venues, Computers & Education , which is an international peer reviewed journal and one of the most prominent journals on the use of technology in education (Arici et al., 2019 ), has published the highest number of papers. The majority of the publications are also international, implying that educational research in social media is pedagogically used in local, regional, or international learning contexts (Barrot, 2021a ).

Geographically, results showed widespread interest across different countries, with more than half of the studies conducted outside of Europe. Whilst Barrot ( 2021a ) has reported that the US was by far the leading country in this field, Manca ( 2020 ) found that most of the research was from the Middle East.

6.2 Dominant terms and research trends

Based on the clusters of terms identified from the analysis of the most used words in abstracts, the platforms that attracted the greatest attention were Facebook and Twitter. In her review, Barrot ( 2021a ) also found that these platforms were the most popular, and suggested that Facebook and Twitter are more likely to be used for teaching and learning as they offer multiple affordances when compared to other less developed/newer platforms.

While the phenomenon of social media remains relatively new to academia research, it has grown in popularity throughout the analysed period. In the initial years, the literature showed evidence of research on the use of social media for informal learning (e.g., Forkosh-Baruch & Hershkovitz, 2012 ) through Facebook (e.g., Hew, 2011 ), and blogs (e.g., Zinger & Sinclair, 2013 ).

In our corpus of literature, the term “social media” starts to flourish from 2016. Many studies with a focus on the use of social media as an educational tool started to be published in that timeframe (e.g., Balakrishnan, 2017 ; Manca & Ranieri, 2016a , 2016b ; Sobaih et al., 2016 ). From 2018 to 2021, research trends were more focused on studies about attitudes and satisfaction, confirming trends from earlier studies on attitudes regarding Facebook (e.g., Manca & Ranieri, 2013 , 2016a , 2016b ). Manca and Ranieri ( 2016c ) argued that whilst there was a favourable attitude towards social media use for education, many academics would express a preference for using social media for personal and professional use, rather than for teaching and learning purposes.

6.3 Theoretical frameworks/models and study aims

The third research question examined the studies which had included a theoretical framework/model to explain the integration of social media in learning and teaching. The findings show that only 55 studies out of 772 cited a theoretical framework or model. This result demonstrates a general lack of theoretically based research. This concurs with the findings of Manca et al. ( 2021 ) who concluded that studies that do not integrate learning theory run the risk of superficial understanding of the pedagogical advantages of social media for learning and teaching.

Our findings show that 16 theoretical frameworks/models guided the 55 studies, with the technology acceptance models being the most frequently used. These theoretical frameworks/models were present in 41 studies. Thus, with the overwhelming presence of technology acceptance models, future research should endeavour to adopt other theoretical frameworks/models to verify the results obtained from TAM and its variants. For example, Al-Qaysi et al. ( 2020 ) argued that the development of a theoretical framework that can best examine the integration of social media for learning and teaching can be justified by the use of the uses and gratification theory (Katz, 1959 ) and the social constructivism theory (Wertsch, 1985 ). Furthermore, the use of social media for teaching and learning should be a pedagogical decision and not a technology one (Everson et al., 2013 ). Considering that educational technology research to date has aimed to understand the integration of, and factors affecting, technology use, mainly by employing theories from psychology and information systems, it was found in a recent study by Valtonen et al. ( 2022 ) that the largest amount of educational research targeted how technology can support learning processes based on different learning theories. This is in contrast with our findings which have shown that technology acceptance theories are the most studied frameworks/models in social media for teaching and learning. The reason for this contradiction is that Valtonen et al.’s ( 2022 ) review identified studies with an educational technology focus and not on social media specifically. Indeed, technology research’s history is long, rich and broad (Weller, 2020 ). However, this indicates that the use of socially oriented theories of learning and constructionist tradition within various technology-enhanced contexts and environments is the most common fit to understand technology integration.

Aligned with our findings is the work of Ngai et al. ( 2015 ) and of Chintalapati and Daruri ( 2017 ) who declared that the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is widely used in social media research to explain the acceptance of social media and to measure the factors that influence its adoption.

Our findings also show that the second most employed theoretical framework/models were those related to learning theories. In particular, social constructivism theory was the second most cited approach. These publications peaked from 2017, indicating that the use of learning theories is still in its infancy. Greenhow and Askari ( 2017 ), who assessed the state of social media research in education, found that the major gap in studies was concerned with the link to concrete measures of learning. This finding aligns with an earlier review study that noted increasing interest for social media use, but insufficient empirical support for claims that such technology can be an effective learning tool (Tess, 2013 ). Reflecting on these findings, Greenhow et al. ( 2019 ) suggested that research should focus on practices, outcomes, and learning across different contexts.

As social media is an emerging technology, it is important to continually understand attitudes towards it. Hence, it is not surprising that most of the studies in our analysis were designed to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of students and academics towards the use of social media as a learning and teaching tool. In theory, this is best explained by using an information systems theory such as the TAM (Ngai et al., 2015 ). However, this does not explain best practice when introducing social media as a learning and teaching tool. Many studies in the analysis which cited learning theories used TAM with social constructivism theory to examine collaborative learning and engagement through social media use (Alalwan et al., 2019 ; Alamri et al., 2020b ; Al-Rahmi, et al., 2018 ).

Since Technology acceptance theories are designed to examine teachers’ and students’ readiness to incorporate social media into teaching and learning practices, it is not surprising that they are aligned with attitudes towards social media as a teaching and learning tool. However, it appears that academic research has not much progressed in terms of providing better theoretical strength to pedagogical models and teaching practices.

The second most commonly found research aim in the studies was related to active collaborative learning, student engagement, effective communication and enhancing group performance. This research aim was supported by learning theories. For example, Yu et al. ( 2010 ) investigated student engagement on Facebook from a pedagogical standpoint based on social learning theory. Al-Rahmi et al. ( 2015 ) explored the factors that contribute to the enhancement of collaborative learning and engagement through social media based on the theory of social constructivist learning. This is in line with Churcher et al. ( 2014 ) study who argued that using social constructivist theory has the ability to develop a community of practice, and maximize learning potential.

Lastly, only 7 studies focused on the efficacy of social media as a learning tool which are supported by information and communication theories. For example, Chaka and Govender ( 2020 ) tested the implementation of mobile learning using Facebook as a medium of communication using a combination of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model, Information Systems (IS) success model and the educational use of Facebook theory. Al-Rahmi et al. ( 2018 ) investigated the use of social media to encourage sharing knowledge, information, and discussion based on constructivism theory, technology acceptance model, and communication theory.

7 Conclusion and implications

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, we aimed to reveal research trends and most commonly used terms of social media for teaching and learning in higher education. The journals that published the most related papers, core scholars working on this field, and the countries in which the related research was based by employing a bibliometric analysis of the research. This analysis suggested that this research field is growing rapidly and evolving. This may be explained by the fact that social media have revolutionized the life of many people and thus attracting much attention.

Second, we employed content analysis to provide a new perspective on the theoretical groundings of the articles in the field. The results showed a lack of theoretical based research in this field, with some evidence of technology acceptance models and learning models as key theories that best explains the integration of social media as a teaching and learning tool.

Although the current study has provided useful insights regarding social media use in teaching and learning, some limitations need to be acknowledged. First, this study was not intended to report, discuss and analyse the findings of each study included in this review. Instead, it aimed to provide some numerical evidence that show the evolving research trends of social media for teaching and learning, as well as the frameworks/models studied and purpose of those focal studies. Second, this study analyses only the articles indexed in the WoS and ERIC database. Therefore, future studies could include articles from Scopus database, book chapters, book reviews, or other publications outside the chosen database. Thirdly, social media research is in its early stages, therefore new studies will continue to surface and continued proliferation of new social media technologies (Ngai et al., 2015 ). More recent social media in education research should be considered in future studies. Finally, future research could explore other research perspectives like research methods and contexts/disciplines.

This paper provides a new perspective on the theoretical groundings in the field of social media as a teaching and learning tool. Several implications can be drawn from this. Firstly, most studies are focused on investigating students and/or instructors’ attitudes towards the use of social media by integrating technology acceptance models. Future studies should focus on “best practice” for integrating social media into pedagogy, tied to student learning outcomes by integrating learning theories. Such studies may also help shape future research on social media integration in formal education, resulting potentially in solutions to educational problems rather than technological ones. Secondly, it was noted that studies employing technology acceptance models may be overwhelming the greater body of literate at present, and therefore any future research should look at post-acceptance studies, such as the impact of usage on learning and/or issues relating to it (such as privacy, security, and trust) (Manca & Ranieri, 2016b ). Finally, this study provided a review of the research landscape on the use of social media as a teaching and learning tool which can be used as a baseline in further advancing the field towards its full maturity.

As interest among scholars increases in using social media for teaching and learning, questions to consider for further research include the following: Can social media that are designed commercial purposes support learners in an educational environment? What does the adoption of social media mean from a theoretical perspective? In this regard, future work should address the pedagogical practices which are suitable for use with social media based on sound theoretical groundings.

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Perez, E., Manca, S., Fernández-Pascual, R. et al. A systematic review of social media as a teaching and learning tool in higher education: A theoretical grounding perspective. Educ Inf Technol 28 , 11921–11950 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11647-2

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Teens are spending nearly 5 hours daily on social media. Here are the mental health outcomes

Forty-one percent of teens with the highest social media use rate their overall mental health as poor or very poor

Vol. 55 No. 3 Print version: page 80

• Social Media and Internet

Percentage of teens with the highest social media use who rate their overall mental health as poor or very poor , compared with 23% of those with the lowest use. For example, 10% of the highest use group expressed suicidal intent or self-harm in the past 12 months compared with 5% of the lowest use group, and 17% of the highest users expressed poor body image compared with 6% of the lowest users.

Average number of hours a day that U.S. teens spend using seven popular social media apps, with YouTube , TikTok , and Instagram accounting for 87% of their social media time. Specifically, 37% of teens say they spend 5 or more hours a day, 14% spend 4 to less than 5 hours a day, 26% spend 2 to less than 4 hours a day, and 23% spend less than 2 hours a day on these three apps.

[ Related: Potential risks of content, features, and functions: The science of how social media affects youth ]

Percentage of the highest frequency social media users who report low parental monitoring and weak parental relationships who said they had poor or very poor mental health , compared with 25% of the highest frequency users who report high parental monitoring and strong parental relationships . Similarly, 22% of the highest users with poor parental relationships and monitoring expressed thoughts of suicide or self-harm compared with 2% of high users with strong parental relationships and monitoring.

Strong parental relationships and monitoring significantly cut the risk of mental health problems among teen social media users, even among those with significant screen time stats.

Rothwell, J. (October 27, 2023). Parenting mitigates social media-linked mental health issues . Gallup. Survey conducted between June 26–July 17, 2023, with responses by 6,643 parents living with children between ages 3 and 19, and 1,591 teens living with those parents. https://news.gallup.com/poll/513248/parenting-mitigates-social-media-linked-mental-health-issues.aspx .

Rothwell, J. (2023). How parenting and self-control mediate the link between social media use and mental health . https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/briefs/ifs-gallup-parentingsocialmediascreentime-october2023-1.pdf .

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Social media influence on students’ knowledge sharing and learning: an empirical study.

1. Introduction

• To investigate the extent to which document exchange facilitates knowledge sharing among students.
• To examine the relationship between knowledge formation and knowledge sharing.
• To investigate the impact of student engagement on knowledge sharing in educational settings.
• To explore the relationship between reputation and learning performance among students.

2. Literature Review

2.1. document exchange’s impact on knowledge sharing, 2.2. knowledge formation’s impact on knowledge sharing, 2.3. student engagement impact on knowledge sharing, 2.4. impact of reputation on the performance of learning.

3. Research Methodology

3.1. instrumentation, 3.2. data collection techniques and steps, 3.3. common method bias or variance, 4. results and analysis, 4.1. reliability, 4.2. respondents profile, 4.3. exploratory factor analysis, 4.4. confirmatory factor analysis, 4.5. path diagram, 4.6. structural equation model, 4.7. interpretation for structural equation model, 5. discussion and implications, 6. conclusions, implication for future research, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Sivakumar, A.; Jayasingh, S.; Shaik, S. Social Media Influence on Students’ Knowledge Sharing and Learning: An Empirical Study. Educ. Sci. 2023 , 13 , 745. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070745

Sivakumar A, Jayasingh S, Shaik S. Social Media Influence on Students’ Knowledge Sharing and Learning: An Empirical Study. Education Sciences . 2023; 13(7):745. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070745

Sivakumar, Arunkumar, Sudarsan Jayasingh, and Shahenaz Shaik. 2023. "Social Media Influence on Students’ Knowledge Sharing and Learning: An Empirical Study" Education Sciences 13, no. 7: 745. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13070745

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Why Many Parents and Teens Think It’s Harder Being a Teen Today

Is it harder these days to be a teen? Or do today’s teenagers have it easier than those of past generations? We asked the following question of 1,453 U.S. parents and teens: Compared with 20 years ago, do you think being a teenager today is harder, easier or about the same?

Parents and teens most often say it’s harder to be a teen today. Though parents are far more likely to say this.

Far fewer say it’s easier now …

… or that it’s about the same.

Teens, though, are more likely than parents to say they are unsure.

But why? We asked those who say teen life has gotten harder or easier to explain in their own words why they think so.

Why parents say it’s harder being a teen today

There are big debates about how teenagers are faring these days. And technology’s impact is often at the center of these conversations.

Prominent figures, including the U.S. Surgeon General, have been vocal about the harmful effects technology may be having on young people.

These concerns ring true for the parents in our survey. A majority blame technology – and especially social media – for making teen life more difficult.

Among parents who say it’s harder being a teen today, about two-thirds cite technology in some way. This includes 41% who specifically name social media.

While some mention social media in broad terms, others bring up specific experiences that teens may have on these platforms, such as feeling pressure to act or look a certain way or having negative interactions there. Parents also call out the downsides of being constantly connected through social media.

Pew Research Center has a long history of studying the attitudes and experiences of U.S. teens and parents, especially when it comes to their relationships with technology.

For this analysis, the Center conducted an online survey of 1,453 U.S. teens and parents from Sept. 26 to Oct. 23, 2023, through Ipsos. Ipsos invited one parent from each of a representative set of households with parents of teens in the desired age range from its  KnowledgePanel . The KnowledgePanel is a probability-based web panel recruited primarily through national, random sampling of residential addresses. Parents were asked to think about one teen in their household. (If there were multiple teens ages 13 to 17 in the household, one was randomly chosen.) After completing their section, the parent was asked to have this chosen teen come to the computer and complete the survey in private.

The survey is weighted to be representative of two different populations: 1) parents with teens ages 13 to 17, and 2) teens ages 13 to 17 who live with parents. For each of these populations, they survey is weighted to be representative by age, gender, race and ethnicity, household income and other categories.

Parents and teens were first asked whether they think it is harder, easier, or about the same to be a teen now than it was 20 years ago. Those who answered that it was easier or harder were then asked an open-ended question to explain why they answered the way they did. Center researchers developed a coding scheme categorizing the written responses, coded all responses, then grouped them into the themes explored in this data essay. Quotations may have been lightly edited for grammar, spelling and clarity.

Here are the questions among parents and among teens used in this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology .

This research was reviewed and approved by an external institutional review board (IRB), Advarra, an independent committee of experts specializing in helping to protect the rights of research participants.

“Social media is a scourge for society, especially for teens. They can’t escape social pressures and are constantly bombarded by images and content that makes them feel insecure and less than perfect, which creates undue stress that they can’t escape.” FATHER, 40s

“Kids are being told what to think and how to feel based on social media.” MOTHER, 40s

Parents name other forms of technology, but at much lower rates. Roughly one-in-ten parents who think being a teen is harder today specifically say the internet (11%) or smartphones (7%) contribute to this.

“Teens are online and they are going to encounter everything offered – positive and negative. Unfortunately, the negative can do major damage, as in cyberbullying, for example.” MOTHER, 30s

Another 26% say technology in general or some other specific type of technology (e.g., video games or television) make teens’ lives harder today.

“Technology has changed the way people communicate. I can see how kids feel very isolated.” FATHER, 40s

Parents also raise a range of reasons that do not specifically reference technology, with two that stand out: more pressures placed on teens and the country or world being worse off than in the past. Among parents who think it’s harder to be a teen today, 16% say it’s because of the pressures and expectations young people face. These include teens feeling like they have to look or act a certain way or perform at a certain level.

“The competition is more fierce in sports and academics and the bar seems to be higher. Everything is more over-the-top for social activities too. It’s not simple as it was.” MOTHER, 50s

A similar share (15%) says teen life is harder because the country or world has changed in a bad way, whether due to political issues or to shifts in morals and values.

“Now it is more difficult to instill values, principles, good customs and good behavior, since many bad vices are seen in some schools and public places.” MOTHER, 50s

Other reasons that do not mention technology are less common. For example, roughly one-in-ten of these parents or fewer mention violence and drugs, bullying, and exposure to bad influences.

Why parents say it’s easier being a teen today

Teens today have a seemingly endless choice of technologies at their disposal, whether it be smartphones , video games or generative AI . And while relatively few parents say teen’s lives are easier today, those who do largely point to technology.

Among parents who say it is easier being a teen today, roughly six-in-ten mention technology as a reason.

Some reference a specific type of technology, like the internet (14%). Another 8% cite smartphones, and 3% cite social media.

“Although the internet can be toxic, it also opens up so many avenues for connection, learning and engagement.” MOTHER, 50s

“We didn’t have smartphones when I was a teenager. Nowadays, teenagers have all the answers in the palm of their hand.” FATHER, 40s

A fair portion (47%) mention technology broadly or name another specific type of technology.

“Technology has improved exponentially, giving access to the whole world at your fingertips.” FATHER, 30s

Some other reasons that emerge do not mention technology specifically. For instance, 18% of parents who say it’s easier being a teen today think this is because there are fewer pressures and expectations on teenagers than in the past.

“Teens today have been shown more leniency; they barely hold themselves responsible.” MOTHER, 40s

And one-in-ten say it’s easier because teens have access to more resources and information.

 “When I was a teen, I had to carry so many books and binders everywhere while my daughter can just have her school laptop. She can complete research easily with internet access on her school device.” MOTHER, 30s

Why teens say it’s harder being a teen today

Most teens use social media , and some do so almost constantly. But they also see these sites as a reason teens’ lives are harder today than 20 years ago.

In addition, teens point to the pressures and expectations that are placed on them.

Among teens who say it’s harder to be a teenager today than in the past, roughly four-in-ten mention technology as a reason. This includes a quarter who specifically name social media. Some mention these sites broadly; others link them to harmful experiences like increased pressures to look a certain way or negative interactions with others.

“Social media tells kids what to do and say. And if you aren’t up on it, you look like the fool and become like an outcast from lots of people.” TEEN GIRL

“Social media was not a part of my parents’ teenage lives and I feel that they did not have to ‘curate’ themselves and be a certain way in order to fit [in] as it is today.” TEEN GIRL

Few specifically mention the internet (6%) or smartphones (3%) as reasons. About one-in-ten (11%) cite technology broadly or another type of technology.

“For one thing, my phone is a huge distraction. It takes up so much of my time just looking at stuff that doesn’t even mean anything to me.” TEEN GIRL

Teens name several reasons that do not specifically mention technology – most prominently, the increased pressures and expectations placed on them. Roughly three-in-ten of those who say teen life is harder today (31%) say it’s because of these pressures and expectations.  

“We have so much more homework and pressure from other kids. We are always being looked at by everyone. We can’t escape.” TEEN GIRL

“Adults expect too much from us. We need to get good grades, do extracurricular activities, have a social life, and work part time – all at the same time.” TEEN BOY

Another 15% say it’s harder because the world is worse off today, due to such things as political issues, values being different or the country having declined in some way.

“Teenagers are less able to afford vehicles, rent, etc. and basic living necessities, and are therefore not able to move out for years after they graduate high school and even college.” TEEN BOY

Other reasons that don’t mention technology – including violence and drugs, bullying, and mental health problems – are named by 8% of these teens or fewer.

Why teens say it’s easier being a teen today

Teens also see ways that technology makes life better, whether that’s helping them pursue hobbies , express their creativity or build skills . Overall, few think teens’ lives are easier today than 20 years ago, but those who do largely say technology is a reason. 

Six-in-ten teens who say teen life is easier today reference technology in some way. This includes 14% who mention the internet and 12% who mention phones. Just 3% name social media.

“[Teens 20 years ago] didn’t have internet available anywhere and they also didn’t have smartphones to be able to use whenever needed.” TEEN BOY

This also includes 46% who reference technology in general or some other specific type of technology.

“Tech has made it easier to connect with friends.” TEEN BOY

These teens also name reasons that don’t specifically mention technology, including 14% who say life is easier because there are fewer pressures and expectations for people their age.

“Twenty years ago there was probably more pressure to become an adult sooner and get things like a job, a learner’s permit, etc.” TEEN GIRL

And a same share says having more resources available to them has made life easier.

“Nowadays, we have help to deal with your physical and mental well-being, and we have specialists/therapists that we can talk to about our feelings and emotions.” TEEN GIRL

Smaller shares say it’s due to the country and world being better off today (4%) or people being nicer to each other (3%).

How parents and teens compare

Parents and teens are mostly in agreement on what makes growing up today harder than in the past.

But the rate at which they cite certain factors like social media or facing pressures differ.

Among those who say being a teen today is harder , 65% of parents believe it’s because of technology in some way. This drops to 39% among teens.

This divide also stands out when it comes to social media specifically (41% vs. 25%).

Teens, on the other hand, are more likely than parents to describe issues related to overachieving or having to look a certain way. Among those who say teen life is harder today, 31% of teens cite pressures and expectations as a reason, compared with 16% of parents.

Still, there are areas in which parents and teens are in sync. For example, similar shares cite the country or world being worse today (15% each) and violence and drugs (8% each) as reasons life today for teens is harder.

And among those who say being a teen today is easier , roughly six-in-ten parents (59%) and teens (60%) mention technology in some way.

Why parents and teens think it’s harder or easier to be a teen today than 20 years ago

Read the quotes below showing how parents and teens think teenagers’ experiences today differ from before.

Find out more

This project benefited greatly from the contributions of Director of Internet and Technology Research Monica Anderson , Research Assistants Eugenie Park and Olivia Sidoti . This project also benefited from Communications Manager Haley Nolan, Editorial Assistant Anna Jackson and Copy Editor Rebecca Leppert .

Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts, its primary funder.

Follow these links for more of our work on teens and technology:

• Teens, social media and technology
• Screen time among teens and parents
• Views of social media policies for minors
• Teens’ use of ChatGPT for schoolwork
• Teens and video games
• Cellphone distraction in the classroom
• Parents’ worries about explicit content, time-wasting on social media

Find more reports and blog posts related to  internet and technology on our topic page.

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43+ Latest Social Media Research Topics for College Students

• Post author By Ankit
• February 7, 2024

Did you know that over 4.5 billion people actively use social media worldwide? That’s like half of the entire world’s people! With billions logging on daily, social media has changed how we communicate. As college students living in this digital time, we must know how platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram shape society. 

Studying social media isn’t just about oversharing selfies – it helps us learn about human behavior, marketing techniques, cyberbullying, privacy issues, and more. 

This blog shares the most exciting social media research topics for college students. 

Table of Contents

Latest Social Media Research Topics For College Students

Check out the latest social media research topics for college students in tabular form.

Social Impact

1. Mental Health Awareness: Explore how social media can help spread understanding about mental health among teens. Look into campaigns and posts that help reduce stigma and offer support.

2. Activism Movements: See how social media helps people organize for causes they believe in. Look at examples of successful campaigns and the challenges activists face online.

3. Political Opinions: Study how social media affects young people’s political opinions. Look at how people only hear opinions they agree with and how false information spreads.

4. Community Building: Learn how social media helps different groups connect. Look at how these online groups offer support and share ideas.

5. Self-Esteem & Body Image: How social media affects teenagers’ feelings about themselves and their bodies. Explore how seeing idealized images can make people feel bad about themselves.

Also Read: 211+ Sociology Research Topics for College Students [2024]

Technical & Algorithmic Aspects

6. Content Algorithms: Understand how social media decides what to show you. Learn about the things that affect how posts appear in your feed.

7. Data Privacy: Explore how social media keeps your information safe. See how your data is collected, stored, and used for ads.

8. Artificial Intelligence: Learn how computers moderate what’s posted online. Look into how they can find and remove harmful content.

9. Personalized Advertising: See how ads on social media are tailored to you. Learn about how ads are based on what you’re interested in.

10. Misinformation Detection: Understand how social media tries to stop fake news. Learn how sites check if something is true before letting it spread.

Specific Platforms & Communities

11. TikTok Trends: Explore what’s popular on TikTok and how it spreads. Learn about the dances, challenges, jokes that get shared and discover strategies to boost your TikTok views .

12. Instagram Creativity: See how people express themselves on Instagram. Learn about the filters, tags, and stories they use.

13. Twitter Discourse: Learn about the conversations happening on Twitter. See how topics become trending and how people share their thoughts.

14. Reddit Subcultures: Explore the different groups on Reddit. Learn how people share interests and vote on what they like.

15. Facebook Groups: See how people connect on Facebook. Learn how groups help people talk about shared interests and issues.

Privacy & Security

16. Data Protection Laws: Understand laws that protect your personal information online.

17. Online Safety Tips: Learn how to stay safe from scams and cyberbullying on social media.

18. Two-Factor Authentication: Explore adding extra security to your social media accounts.

19. Privacy Settings: Understand how to control who sees your posts and information on social media.

20. Identity Theft Awareness: Learn the risks of sharing too much personal information online.

Education & Learning

21. Online Courses: Explore how social media platforms offer educational content and courses.

22. Study Groups: See how students use social media to collaborate and study together.

23. Learning Communities: Join online communities focused on specific subjects or skills.

24. Educational Resources: Find and share educational resources and materials on social media.

25. Teacher Collaboration: Explore how teachers use social media to connect and share teaching strategies.

Entertainment & Media

26. Fan Communities: Explore online communities dedicated to fandoms and fan culture.

27. Content Creation: Learn how people create and share content on platforms like YouTube and Twitch.

28. Livestreaming: Explore the world of live video streaming on platforms like Instagram Live and Facebook Live.

29. Viral Trends: Explore popular trends and challenges that go viral on social media.

30. Digital Art & Creativity: Discover how artists use social media to showcase their work and connect with fans.

Health & Wellness

31. Fitness Communities: Explore online communities focused on fitness and wellness.

32. Healthy Living Tips: Discover tips and advice for maintaining a healthy lifestyle shared on social media.

33. Mental Health Support: Find resources and communities that support mental health challenges.

34. Nutrition & Diet: Learn about nutrition and diet tips shared by health experts and influencers on social media.

35. Self-Care Practices: Explore self-care routines and practices individuals share on social media platforms.

Travel & Exploration

36. Travel Inspiration: Explore travel photos and stories travelers share on social media.

37. Travel Planning Tips: Discover tips and advice for planning trips shared by travel influencers.

38. Destination Guides: Find and share destination guides and recommendations on social media.

39. Solo Travel Communities: Connect with other solo travelers and share experiences and tips.

40. Adventure Activities: Discover adventure activities and experiences thrill-seekers share on social media.

Fashion & Style

41. Fashion Trends: Explore the latest fashion trends and styles showcased on social media platforms.

42. Style Tips: Discover styling tips and advice fashion influencers and bloggers share.

43. DIY Fashion: Learn how to create your fashion pieces through DIY tutorials shared on social media.

44. Fashion Communities: Connect with other fashion enthusiasts and share outfit ideas and inspirations.

45. Sustainable Fashion: Explore sustainable fashion practices and brands promoted on social media.

Career & Professional Development

46. Job Opportunities: Explore job postings and career opportunities shared on social media platforms like LinkedIn.

47. Networking Tips: Discover tips for networking and building professional connections on social media.

48. Resume Building: Learn how to create an effective resume and showcase your skills on social media profiles.

49. Interview Preparation: Find resources and advice for preparing for job interviews shared by career experts.

50. Freelancing Communities: Connect with other freelancers and share tips and advice for succeeding in the gig economy.

Hence, these are the trending Social Media Research Topics for College Students from which you can pick one.

Also Read: Top 11+ Career Benefits of Studying Abroad

How Do You Choose The Perfect Social Media Research Topics?

Social media is a significant aspect of our daily existence. There are so many exciting research topics for your college paper or project. Picking the right one can be tricky, but here is how to narrow it down.

1. Think About Your Interests

Start by brainstorming what social media platforms and topics interest you. Are you into Instagram trends? Facebook analytics? Snapchat filters? Knowing your interests will help you pick a topic you want to research and learn about.

2. Consider Current Events

Look at what’s happening right now in the social media world. Are people debating about privacy settings? Is a new platform getting popular? Current events and controversies make cool research topics.

3. Look for Gaps in Research

Search online to see what other studies have already been done. Then, you can find gaps where more research is needed. Filling those gaps by studying something new can lead to incredible discoveries.

4. Talk to Your Teacher

Your teacher will know good topics related to what you’re studying in class. See if they have suggestions based on what would work for the assignment. Their guidance can help narrow your choices.

5. Start Broad, Then Narrow Down

Begin with a broad subject like “Social Media and Culture,” then gradually narrow it down as you go. Add details about the specific platform, users, or effects you want to focus on for a defined topic.

6. Consider Your Research Method

Will you do surveys, interviews, observations, or experiments? Some topics work better with certain research methods. Think about how you’ll conduct the study when weighing your options.

7. Pick a Topic That’s Manageable

Make sure you pick a focused enough topic to research and reasonably write about within the time frame. A subject that’s too broad can be hard to tackle.

8. Write Down a List of Ideas

Keep a running list of all your potential topic ideas. Cross off the ones that don’t work. Circle your top choices. Taking notes helps to arrange your ideas.

9. Discuss Ideas with Classmates

Your classmates might have great suggestions you haven’t thought of. Or they can help you decide between topic options. Talking it through can give you a fresh perspective.

10. Don’t Forget About Your Passion!

Most importantly, choose a topic that you genuinely care about and excites you. Your enthusiasm will motivate you through the research process.

Hopefully, these tips will make it easier to pick the perfect social media research topic for your project. 

What Makes A Perfect Social Media Research Topic?

Take into account the following factors to make sure your topic is powerful and exciting:

First, your topic should be super easy to understand so people understand what you’re discussing. Choose something that’s not confusing or vague.

Trend Relevancy

Second, it should relate to what’s happening now with social media and not be about old platforms or trends no one cares about anymore. Look at what sites and apps are popular today to pick a topic that matters.

New Insights

Finally, your research should uncover stuff people don’t already know. If there’s already a ton of studies on the same thing, it won’t be that interesting. Look for gaps in our knowledge so your work teaches us something new.

Researching social media is so essential for students today. We practically live our lives on sites like Instagram and TikTok. We could learn much about how social media impacts society, relationships, and mental health. 

The possibilities are endless for research topics! Don’t be afraid to dive in and choose something you feel passionate about. Your research can create real change and impact. You have control over what happens next, so make it meaningful.

How does social media influence politics and democracy?

Social media enables the spread of misinformation, impacts voting, and polarizes political discourse.

How does social media affect body image and self-perception?

Social media imagery fosters unrealistic beauty standards, negative social comparisons, and poor body image.

What are the privacy risks of social media data mining?

User data collection raises issues around consent, transparency, profiling, and exploitation.

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The impact of social media use on college student mental health

April 22, 2024 - By Arly Garcia

Nine University of New Mexico students reported various effects to an anonymous survey conducted by the Daily Lobo on social media use and mental health. Whether these effects are negative or positive could depend on how people use social media, according to a UNM psychology professor.

Of nine UNM students who responded to the survey, 100% said they use some type of social media every day.

Of those students, seven believe social media has an impact on their mental health. The nature of that impact ranged from somewhat negative (with four respondents) to somewhat positive (with two respondents). Three students rated the impact as neutral.

The impact social media has may depend on how people are using it, Joshua Grubbs, an associate professor in the UNM Department of Psychology, said.

“What seems to matter most is what people do on social media and the reasons that they are using (it),” Grubbs said.

Using social media for connection and social life are indicators of a positive relationship with social media, if it supplements offline relationships and experiences, Grubbs said. 

“If someone is using social media as a part of their overall social life – using it to connect with and reach out to people in addition to meaningful relationships in-person and involvement in the offline world – then it’s probably a good thing,” Grubbs said.

Routine use of social media with no emotional connection to it may have positive effects on social well-being, mental health and self-rated health, according to a   study   published in “Health Education & Behavior.”

Social media can have a negative impact when people use it in “more toxic ways,” Grubbs said.

“Either constantly comparing themselves to others or ‘doom-scrolling’ and obsessing over negative news, it’s probably going to affect them negatively,” Grubbs said. 

About half of U.S. adults receive the news from social media “sometimes” or “often,” according to   Pew Research Center .

Negative mental health effects can also result from excessive social media use, which involves increased monitoring and frequency of checking social media sites, according to a   study   published in the “International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning.”

Excessive social media use can cause individuals to decrease their physical activity and face-to-face communication – both of which are protective factors against depression, according to the study. Exposure to “overwhelming (amounts of) information” and self-other comparisons are also dangers of excessive social media use, according to the study.

“All in all, there isn’t a simple one-size-fits-all narrative for social media,” Grubbs said.

Arly Garcia is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @DailyLobo

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Stories of Lucas College and Graduate School of Business

San jose state university, how research by sjsu’s mithila guha is decoding social media activism.

It’s a “gidday” in the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business when an up and coming faculty member makes an impact at the international level. Mithila Guha, assistant professor of marketing, spent part of her summer presenting research in Sydney, Australia, at the 46th INFORMS Society for Marketing Science (ISMS) Conference. 

In June, the largest conference in the field of marketing was hosted by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and showcased over 180 competitive research sessions across 12+ parallel tracks. More than 600 speakers presented rigorous scientific research on key marketing issues. This is where Guha presented her latest research, “Beyond Hashtags: Do Consumer Social Media Activism Echo in Brand Performance?”, which was co-authored by colleagues Daniel Korschun and Trina Larsen Andras of Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business.

Amid ongoing global crises and divisive political conversations on social media among brands and consumers, Guha’s research investigates the impact of consumer activism during the “2022 Russian invasion and Humanitarian Crises in Ukraine” on the performance of 159 top global brands. 

Analyzing a comprehensive dataset – including 41,358 activist tweets directed at these brands, 1,322 daily tweets from the brands, 39,578 user replies, and daily stock market data – the study reveals how consumer activism significantly influences social media engagement and stock performance. Guha’s research uses cutting edge and advanced topic modeling and text analysis tools to examine such large-scale unstructured social media datasets from ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). 

Their research findings underscore how brands can drive meaningful social impact by influencing consumer behavior and brand performance during global crises, highlighting that marketing has a social impact that extends beyond merely generating profit.

The idea for this research came about when Guha observed an intriguing trend over the past few years: brands and companies are no longer just about profits – they’re increasingly taking bold stances on sociopolitical issues that resonate with their audiences on social media platforms.

“This phenomenon piqued my interest and inspired me to dive into the world of social media activism,” said Guha. “It’s an exciting field that shows how marketing can be a force for good, driving positive societal change beyond just profit margins.”

While their research paper is currently under review, Guha says she is eagerly awaiting its publication so she can share the findings with a wider audience. 

“Representing SJSU on this international stage and sharing my research with such a diverse and engaged audience was truly unforgettable,” she said. “The energy and exchange of ideas left me inspired and eager to continue my work.”

In the meantime, Guha has more research that can be delved into in the Journal of Brand Management’s 2024 Special Issue on Brand Activism where it was recently published. The paper, “Peer effects on brand activism: evidence from brand and user chatter on Twitter.” , was co-authored by Korschun and offers valuable insights into the evolving role of brands in today’s society and how the actions of peer brands on social media influence a brand’s decision to take a stand on social issues. 

Mithila Guha presents her research at at the 46th INFORMS Society for Marketing Science (ISMS) Conference in Australia.

Mithila Guha is an assistant professor of marketing at the Lucas College and Graduate School of Business at San José State University. 

Our LCOB faculty, staff, students and alumni consistently make significant impacts both in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Many of our graduates have gone on to excel in various industries, with a notable presence in Silicon Valley companies. These organizations recognize and value the exceptional education and skills our alumni bring to their roles, making SJSU a key contributor to the region’s thriving economy. For more information about our programs, visit sjsu.edu/cob/ .

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Analysing the Impact of Social Media on Students’ Academic Performance: A Comparative Study of Extraversion and Introversion Personality

Sourabh sharma.

International Management Institute (IMI), Bhubaneswar, India

Ramesh Behl

Associated data.

Complete data and material is available to support transparency.

The advent of technology in education has seen a revolutionary change in the teaching–learning process. Social media is one such invention which has a major impact on students’ academic performance. This research analyzed the impact of social media on the academic performance of extraversion and introversion personality students. Further, the comparative study between these two personalities will be analysed on education level (postgraduate and undergraduate) and gender (male and female). The research was initiated by identifying the factors of social media impacting students’ academic performance. Thereafter, the scale was developed, validated and tested for reliability in the Indian context. Data were collected from 408 students segregated into 202 males and 206 females. Two hundred and thirty-four students are enrolled in postgraduation courses, whereas 174 are registered in the undergraduate programme. One-way ANOVA has been employed to compare the extraversion and introversion students of different education levels and gender. A significant difference is identified between extraversion and introversion students for the impact of social media on their academic performance.

Introduction

Social Networking Sites (SNS) gained instant popularity just after the invention and expansion of the Internet. Today, these sites are used the most to communicate and spread the message. The population on these social networking sites (SNS) has increased exponentially. Social networking sites (SNS) in general are called social media (Boyd & Ellison, 2008 ). Social media (SM) is used extensively to share content, initiate discussion, promote businesses and gain advantages over traditional media. Technology plays a vital role to make SM more robust by reducing security threats and increasing reliability (Stergiou et al., 2018 ).

As of January 2022, more than 4.95 billion people are using the Internet worldwide, and around 4.62 billion are active SM users (Johnson, 2022 ). In India, the number of Internet users was 680 million by January 2022, and there were 487 million active social media users (Basuray, 2022 ). According to Statista Research Department ( 2022 ), in India, SM is dominated by two social media sites, i.e. YouTube and Facebook. YouTube has 467 million users followed by Facebook with 329 million users.

Although almost all age groups are using SM platforms to interact and communicate with their known community (Whiting & Williams, 2013 ), it has been found that social media sites are more popular among youngsters and specifically among students. They use SM for personal as well as academic activities extensively (Laura et al., 2017 ). Other than SM, from the last two years, several online platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet are preferred to organize any kind of virtual meetings, webinars and online classes. These platforms were used worldwide to share and disseminate knowledge across the defined user community during the pandemic. Social media sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp and blogs are comparatively more open and used to communicate with public and/or private groups. Earlier these social media platforms were used only to connect with friends and family, but gradually these platforms became one of the essential learning tools for students (Park et al., 2009 ). To enhance the teaching–learning process, these social media sites are explored by all types of learning communities (Dzogbenuku et al., 2019 ). SM when used in academics has both advantages and disadvantages. Social media helps to improve academic performance, but it may also distract the students from studies and indulge them in other non-academic activities (Alshuaibi et al., 2018 ).

Here, it is important to understand that the personality traits of students, their education level and gender are critical constructs to determine academic performance. There are different personality traits of an individual such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion and introversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (McCrae & Costa, 1987 ). This cross-functional research is an attempt to study the impact of social media on the academic performance of students while using extraversion and introversion personality traits, education levels and gender as moderating variables.

Literature Review

There has been a drastic change in the internet world due to the invention of social media sites in the last ten years. People of all age groups now share their stories, feelings, videos, pictures and all kinds of public stuff on social media platforms exponentially (Asur & Huberman, 2010 ). Youth, particularly from the age group of 16–24, embraced social media sites to connect with their friends and family, exchange information and showcase their social status (Boyd & Ellison, 2008 ). Social media sites have many advantages when used in academics. The fun element of social media sites always helps students to be connected with peers and teachers to gain knowledge (Amin et al., 2016 ). Social media also enhances the communication between teachers and students as this are no ambiguity and miscommunication from social media which eventually improves the academic performance of the students (Oueder & Abousaber, 2018 ).

When social media is used for educational purposes, it may improve academic performance, but some associated challenges also come along with it (Rithika & Selvaraj, 2013 ). If social media is incorporated into academics, students try to also use it for non-academic discussions (Arnold & Paulus, 2010 ). The primary reason for such distraction is its design as it is designed to be a social networking tool (Qiu et al., 2013 ). According to Englander et al. ( 2010 ), the usage of social media in academics has more disadvantages than advantages. Social media severely impacts the academic performance of a student. The addiction to social media is found more among the students of higher studies which ruins the academic excellence of an individual (Nalwa & Anand, 2003 ). Among the social media users, Facebook users’ academic performance was worse than the nonusers or users of any other social media network. Facebook was found to be the major distraction among students (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010 ). However, other studies report contrary findings and argued that students benefited from chatting (Jain et al., 2012 ), as it improves their vocabulary and writing skills (Yunus & Salehi, 2012 ). Social media can be used either to excel in academics or to devastate academics. It all depends on the way it is used by the students. The good or bad use of social media in academics is the users’ decision because both the options are open to the students (Landry, 2014 ).

Kaplan and Haenlein ( 2010 ) defined social media as user-generated content shared on web 2.0. They have also classified social media into six categories:

• Social Networking Sites: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram are the social networking sites where a user may create their profile and invite their friends to join. Users may communicate with each other by sharing common content.
• Blogging Sites: Blogging sites are individual web pages where users may communicate and share their knowledge with the audience.
• Content Communities and Groups: YouTube and Slideshare are examples of content communities where people may share media files such as pictures, audio and video and PPT presentations.
• Gaming Sites: Users may virtually participate and enjoy the virtual games.
• Virtual Worlds: During COVID-19, this type of social media was used the most. In the virtual world, users meet with each other at some decided virtual place and can do the pre-decided things together. For example, the teacher may decide on a virtual place of meeting, and students may connect there and continue their learning.
• Collaborative Content Sites: Wikipedia is an example of a collaborative content site. It permits many users to work on the same project. Users have all rights to edit and add the new content to the published project.

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are in trend since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Raja & Kallarakal, 2020 ). MOOCs courses are generally free, and anyone may enrol for them online. Many renowned institutions have their online courses on MOOCs platform which provides a flexible learning opportunity to the students. Students find them useful to enhance their knowledge base and also in career development. Many standalone universities have collaborated with the MOOCs platform and included these courses in their curriculum (Chen, 2013 ).

Security and privacy are the two major concerns associated with social media. Teachers are quite apprehensive in using social media for knowledge sharing due to the same concerns (Fedock et al., 2019 ). It was found that around 72% teachers were reluctant to use social media platforms due to integrity issues and around 63% teachers confirmed that security needs to be tightened before using social media in the classroom (Surface et al., 2014 ). Proper training on security and privacy, to use social media platforms in academics, is needed for  students and teachers (Bhatnagar & Pry, 2020 ).

The personality traits of a student also play a significant role in deciding the impact of social media on students’ academic performance. Personality is a dynamic organization which simplifies the way a person behaves in a situation (Phares, 1991 ). Human behaviour has further been described by many renowned researchers. According to Lubinski ( 2000 ), human behaviour may be divided into five factors, i.e. cognitive abilities, personality, social attitudes, psychological interests and psychopathology. These personality traits are very important characteristics of a human being and play a substantial role in work commitment (Macey & Schneider, 2008 ). Goldberg ( 1993 ) elaborated on five dimensions of personality which are commonly known as the Big Five personality traits. The traits are “openness vs. cautious”; “extraversion vs. introversion”; “agreeableness vs. rational”; “conscientiousness vs. careless”; and “neuroticism vs. resilient”.

It has been found that among all personality traits, the “extraversion vs. introversion” personality trait has a greater impact on students’ academic performance (Costa & McCrae, 1999 ). Extrovert students are outgoing, talkative and assertive (Chamorro et al., 2003 ). They are positive thinkers and comfortable working in a crowd. Introvert students are reserved and quiet. They prefer to be isolated and work in silos (Bidjerano & Dai, 2007 ). So, in the present study, we have considered only the “extraversion vs. introversion” personality trait. This study is going to analyse the impact of social media platforms on students’ academic performance by taking the personality trait of extraversion and introversion as moderating variables along with their education level and gender.

Research Gap

Past research by Choney ( 2010 ), Karpinski and Duberstein ( 2009 ), Khan ( 2009 ) and Kubey et al. ( 2001 ) was done mostly in developed countries to analyse the impact of social media on the students’ academic performance, effect of social media on adolescence, and addictiveness of social media in students. There are no published research studies where the impact of social media was studied on students’ academic performance by taking their personality traits, education level and gender all three together into consideration. So, in the present study, the impact of social media will be evaluated on students’ academic performance by taking their personality traits (extraversion and introversion), education level (undergraduate and postgraduate) and gender (male and female) as moderating variables.

Objectives of the Study

Based on the literature review and research gap, the following research objectives have been defined:

• To identify the elements of social media impacting student's academic performance and to develop a suitable scale
• To test the  validity and reliability of the scale
• To analyse the impact of social media on students’ academic performance using extraversion and introversion personality trait, education level and gender as moderating variables

Research Methodology

Sampling technique.

Convenience sampling was used for data collection. An online google form was floated to collect the responses from 408 male and female university students of undergraduation and postgraduation streams.

Objective 1 To identify the elements of social media impacting student's academic performance and to develop a suitable scale.

A structured questionnaire was employed to collect the responses from 408 students of undergraduate and postgraduate streams. The questionnaire was segregated into three sections. In section one, demographic details such as gender, age and education stream were defined. Section two contained the author’s self-developed 16-item scale related to the impact of social media on the academic performance of students. The third section had a standardized scale developed by John and Srivastava ( 1999 ) of the Big Five personality model.

Demographics

There were 408 respondents (students) of different education levels consisting of 202 males (49.5%) and 206 females (50.5%). Most of the respondents (87%) were from the age group of 17–25 years. 234 respondents (57.4) were enrolled on postgraduation courses, whereas 174 respondents (42.6) were registered in the undergraduate programme. The result further elaborates that WhatsApp with 88.6% and YouTube with 82.9% are the top two commonly used platforms followed by Instagram with 76.7% and Facebook with 62.3% of students. 65% of students stated that Google doc is a quite useful and important application in academics for document creation and information dissemination.

Validity and Reliability of Scale

Objective 2 Scale validity and reliability.

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Cronbach’s alpha test were used to investigate construct validity and reliability, respectively.

The author’s self-designed scale of ‘social media impacting students’ academic performance’ consisting of 16 items was validated using exploratory factor analysis. The principle component method with varimax rotation was applied to decrease the multicollinearity within the items. The initial eigenvalue was set to be greater than 1.0 (Field, 2005 ). Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) with 0.795 and Bartlett’s test of sphericity having significant values of 0.000 demonstrated the appropriateness of using exploratory factor analysis.

The result of exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha is shown in Table ​ Table1. 1 . According to Sharma and Behl ( 2020 ), “High loading on the same factor and no substantial cross-loading confirms convergent and discriminant validity respectively”.

Exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha for the self-developed scale of “Social media impact on academic performance”

The self-developed scale was segregated into four factors, namely “Accelerating Impact”, “Deteriorating Impact”, “Social Media Prospects” and “Social Media Challenges”.

The first factor, i.e. “Accelerating Impact”, contains items related to positive impact of social media on students’ academic performance. Items in this construct determine the social media contribution in the grade improvement, communication and knowledge sharing. The second factor “Deteriorating Impact” describes the items which have a negative influence of social media on students’ academic performance. Items such as addiction to social media and distraction from studies are an integral part of this factor. “Social Media Prospects” talk about the opportunities created by social media for students’ communities. The last factor “Social Media Challenges” deals with security and privacy issues created by social media sites and the threat of cyberbullying which is rampant in academics.

The personality trait of an individual always influences the social media usage pattern. Therefore, the impact of social media on the academic performance of students may also change with their personality traits. To measure the personality traits, the Big Five personality model was used. This model consists of five personality traits, i.e. “openness vs. cautious”; “extraversion vs. introversion”; “agreeableness vs. rational”; “conscientiousness vs. careless”; and “neuroticism vs. resilient”. To remain focussed on the scope of the study, only a single personality trait, i.e. “extraversion vs. introversion” with 6 items was considered for analysis. A reliability test of this existing scale using Cronbach’s alpha was conducted. Prior to the reliability test, reverse scoring applicable to the associated items was also calculated. Table ​ Table2 2 shows the reliability score, i.e. 0.829.

Cronbach’s alpha test for the scale of extraversion vs. introversion personality traits

Objective 3 To analyse the impact of social media on students’ academic performance using extraversion and introversion personality traits, education level and gender as moderating variables.

The research model shown in Fig.  1 helps in addressing the above objective.

Social media factors impacting academic performances of extraversion and introversion personality traits of students at different education levels and gender

As mentioned in Fig.  1 , four dependent factors (Accelerating Impact, Deteriorating Impact, Social Media Prospects and Social Media Challenges) were derived from EFA and used for analysing the impact of social media on the academic performance of students having extraversion and introversion personality traits at different education levels and gender.

Students having a greater average score (more than three on a scale of five) for all personality items mentioned in Table ​ Table2 2 are considered to be having extraversion personality or else introversion personality. From the valid dataset of 408 students, 226 students (55.4%) had extraversion personality trait and 182 (44.6%) had introversion personality trait. The one-way ANOVA analysis was employed to determine the impact of social media on academic performance for all three moderators, i.e. personality traits (Extraversion vs. Introversion), education levels (Undergraduate and Postgraduate) and gender (Male and Female). If the sig. value for the result is >  = 0.05, we may accept the null hypothesis, i.e. there is no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personality students for the moderators; otherwise, null hypothesis is rejected which means there is a significant difference for the moderators.

Table ​ Table3 3 shows the comparison of the accelerating impact of social media on the academic performance of all students having extraversion and introversion personality traits. It also shows a comparative analysis on education level and gender for these two personality traits of students. In the first comparison of extraversion and introversion students, the sig. value is 0.001, which indicates that there is a significant difference among extraversion and introversion students for the “Accelerating Impact” of social media on academic performance. Here, 3.781 is the mean value for introversion students which is higher than the mean value 3.495 of extraversion students. It clearly specifies that the accelerating impact of social media is more prominent in the students having introversion personality traits. Introversion students experienced social media as the best tool to express thoughts and improve academic grades. The result is also consistent with the previous studies where introvert students are perceived to use social media to improve their academic performance (Amichai-Hamburger et al., 2002 ; Voorn & Kommers, 2013 ). Further at the education level, there was a significant difference in postgraduate as well as undergraduate students for the accelerating impact of social media on the academic performance among students with extraversion and introversion, and introverts seem to get better use of social media. The gender-wise significant difference was also analysed between extraversion and introversion personalities. Female introversion students were found to gain more of an accelerating impact of social media on their academic performance.

One-way ANOVA: determining “Accelerating Impact” among extraversion and introversion personality traits students at different education levels and genders

Significant at the 0.05 level

Like Table ​ Table3, 3 , the first section of Table ​ Table4 4 compares the deteriorating impact of social media on the academic performance of all students having extraversion and introversion personality traits. Here, the sig. value 0.383 indicates no significant difference among extraversion and introversion students for the “Deteriorating Impact” of social media on academic performance. The mean values show the moderating deteriorating impact of social media on the academic performance of extraversion and introversion personality students. Unlimited use of social media due to the addiction is causing a distraction in academic performance, but the overall impact is not on the higher side. Further, at the education level, the sig. values 0.423 and 0.682 of postgraduate and undergraduate students, respectively, show no significant difference between extraversion and introversion students with respect to “Deteriorating Impact of Social Media Sites”. The mean values again represent the moderate impact. Gender-wise, male students have no difference between the two personality traits, but at the same time, female students have a significant difference in the deteriorating impact, and it is more on extroverted female students.

One-way ANOVA: Examining “Deteriorating Impact” among extraversion and introversion personality traits students at different education levels and genders

The significant value, i.e. 0.82, in Table ​ Table5 5 represents no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personality students for the social media prospects. The higher mean value of both personality students indicates that they are utilizing the opportunities of social media in the most appropriate manner. It seems that all the students are using social media for possible employment prospects, gaining knowledge by attending MOOCs courses and transferring knowledge among other classmates. At the education level, postgraduation students have no significant difference between extraversion and introversion for the social media prospects, but at the undergraduate level, there is a significant difference among both the personalities, and by looking at mean values, extroverted students gain more from the social media prospects. Gender-wise comparison of extraversion and introversion personality students found no significant difference in the social media prospects for male as well as female students.

One-way ANOVA: Examining “Social Media Prospects” among extraversion and introversion personality traits students at different education levels and genders

Table ​ Table6 6 shows the comparison of the social media challenges of all students having extraversion and introversion personality traits. It is also doing a comparative analysis on education level and gender for these two personality traits of students. All sig. values in Table ​ Table6 6 represent no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personality students for social media challenges. Even at the education level and gender-wise comparison of the two personalities, no significant difference is derived. The higher mean values indicate that the threat of cyberbullying, security and privacy is the main concern areas for extraversion and introversion personality students. Cyberbullying is seen to be more particularly among female students (Snell & Englander, 2010 ).

One-way ANOVA: Examining “Social Media Challenges” among extraversion and introversion personality traits students at different education levels and genders

The use of social media sites in academics is becoming popular among students and teachers. The improvement or deterioration in academic performance is influenced by the personality traits of an individual. This study has tried to analyse the impact of social media on the academic performance of extraversion and introversion personality students. This study has identified four factors of social media which have an impact on academic performance. These factors are: accelerating impact of social media; deteriorating impact of social media; social media prospects; and social media challenges.

Each of these factors has been used for comparative analysis of students having extraversion and introversion personality traits. Their education level and gender have also been used to understand the detailed impact between these two personality types. In the overall comparison, it has been discovered that both personalities (extraversion and introversion) have a significant difference for only one factor, i.e. “Accelerating Impact of Social Media Sites” where students with introversion benefited the most. At the education level, i.e. postgraduate and undergraduate, there was a significant difference between extraversion and introversion personalities for the first factor which is the accelerating impact of social media. Here, the introversion students were found to benefit in postgraduate as well as undergraduate courses. For the factors of deteriorating impact and social media challenges, there was no significant difference between extraversion and introversion personality type at the different education levels.

Surprisingly, for the first factor, i.e. the accelerating impact of social media, in gender-wise comparison, no significant difference was found between extraversion and introversion male students. Whereas a significant difference was found in female students. The same was the result for the second factor, i.e. deteriorating impact of social media of male and female students. For social media prospects and social media challenges, no significant difference was identified between extraversion and introversion students of any gender.

Findings and Implications

The personality trait of a student plays a vital role in analysing the impact of social media on their academic performance. The present study was designed to find the difference between extraversion and introversion personality types in students for four identified factors of social media and their impact on students’ academic performance. The education level and gender were also added to make it more comprehensive. The implications of this study are useful for institutions, students, teachers and policymakers.

This study will help the institutions to identify the right mix of social media based on the personality, education level and gender of the students. For example, technological challenges are faced by all students. It is important for the institutions to identify the challenges such as cyberbullying, security and privacy issues and accordingly frame the training sessions for all undergraduate and postgraduate students. These training sessions will help students with extraversion and introversion to come out from possible technological hassles and will create a healthy ecosystem (Okereke & Oghenetega, 2014 ).

Students will also benefit from this study as they will be conscious of the possible pros and cons that exist because of social media usage and its association with students’ academic performance. This learning may help students to enhance their academic performance with the right use of social media sites. The in-depth knowledge of all social media platforms and their association with academics should be elucidated to the students so that they may explore the social media opportunities in an optimum manner. Social media challenges also need to be made known to the students to improve upon and overcome with time (Boateng & Amankwaa, 2016 ).

Teachers are required to design the curriculum by understanding the learning style of students with extraversion and introversion personality type. Innovation and customization in teaching style are important for the holistic development of students and to satisfy the urge for academic requirements. Teachers should also guide the students about the adverse impacts of each social media platform, so that these can be minimized. Students should also be guided to reduce the time limit of using social media (Owusu-Acheaw & Larson, 2015 ).

Policymakers are also required to understand the challenges faced by the students while using social media in academics. All possible threats can be managed by defining and implementing transparent and proactive policies. As social media sites are open in nature, security and privacy are the two major concerns. The Government of India should take a strong stand to control all big social media companies so that they may fulfil the necessary compliances related to students’ security and privacy (Kumar & Pradhan, 2018 ).

The overall result of these comparisons gives a better insight and deep understanding of the significant differences between students with extraversion and introversion personality type towards different social media factors and their impact on students’ academic performance. Students’ behaviour according to their education level and gender for extraversion and introversion personalities has also been explored.

Limitation and Future Scope of Research

Due to COVID restrictions, a convenient sampling technique was used for data collection which may create some response biases where the students of introversion personality traits may have intentionally described themselves as extroversion personalities and vice versa. This study also creates scope for future research. In the Big Five personality model, there are four other personality traits which are not considered in the present study. There is an opportunity to also use cross-personality comparisons for the different social media parameters. The other demographic variables such as age and place may also be explored in future research.

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Dr. SS and Prof. RB. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dr. SS, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

No funds, grants, or other support was received.

Availability of data and material

Declarations.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Verbal informed consent was obtained from the participants.

Verbal consent is obtained for publication

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Sourabh Sharma, Email: ni.ude.hbimi@hbaruos .

Ramesh Behl, Email: ude.imi@lhebr .

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Superintendent Reykdal Publishes Guidance for Schools to Limit Cell Phones During Instructional Time

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Katy Payne   she/her 360-764-0201

OLYMPIA—August 28, 2024— To support student learning and mental health, schools across the state and nation are updating their policies to restrict cell phone use during the school day.

According to a 2022 study by the Pew Research Center, 95% of teenagers have a smartphone, compared to 73% in 2014–15. Educators nationwide have called for support in limiting student access to cell phones during instructional time to reduce distractions and provide the optimal environment for student learning.

In a 2024 survey, the National Education Association found that 79% of educators who teach in schools that allow cell phones find it to be very disruptive. Further, 90% of educators surveyed said they would support cell phone policies that restricted students’ use of cell phones during instructional time.

Today, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) published a brief for Washington’s schools on cell phone policies, advocating for school leaders to plan to update their policies by the start of the 2025–26 school year. School leaders are encouraged to work with their communities over the next year to create a plan that will work best for their local context.

“Reducing the use of cell phones in class improves concentration and learning, improves mental and physical health, and reduces pressures caused by social media,” said State Superintendent Chris Reykdal in the guidance document. 

Instead of relying on individual educators to adopt their own policy around cell phones, OSPI’s guidance encourages schools to implement uniform, school-wide policies to create ongoing and consistent expectations for students, staff, and families. 

Districts are encouraged to consider exceptions to school-wide policies when an educator is using devices as part of a lesson plan. Further, school policies must not prohibit students with disabilities from using a device to support their learning as identified by their Individualized Education Program (IEP) or IEP team.

“We know that students succeed when they can focus on learning,” said Larry Delaney, President of the Washington Education Association. “These policies provide educators with support to create better learning environments and is a step forward in creating safer and healthier schools for our students.”

School policies governing cell phone use in the classroom are most effective when paired with other strategies to support student mental health and to prepare students to use digital media in safe and healthy ways. 

"Our aim is for students to be engaged and attentive in the classroom, and we recognize the significant distraction that cell phones can pose,” said Joel Aune, Executive Director of the Washington Association of School Administrators. “We want our students to develop healthy habits and digital citizenship skills that will serve them well in the future. I am confident that school and district leaders will be thoughtful about implementing policies that support learning and well-being for all students."

Technology is a critical part of student learning. In partnership with educators across the state, OSPI is working to integrate media literacy and digital citizenship into the state’s learning standards for English language arts. Students are also learning safe and ethical ways to use artificial intelligence to support their learning. This guidance is intended to support educators in reducing distractions during instructional time.

“Our challenge to school leaders to revise their cell phone policies is part of a broader strategy to support our students’ mental health and prepare them for success in our digital world,” Reykdal said.

For More Information

• OSPI Guidance: Cell Phone and Smart Device Use in Schools
• Pew Research Center Report: Teens, Social Media and Technology (August 10, 2022)
• National Education Association Member Polling Results: Social Media, Personal Devices, and Mental Health (June 20, 2024)
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• WEATHER ALERT Heat Advisory Full Story

School resource officers patrol hallways, social media to keep Wake County students safe

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Christopher Barros is one of the first people inside Ligon Magnet Middle School every day.

And he's also one of the last to leave.

He's the school resource officer who we spoke with on the first day of the traditional school year in Wake County

The only hiccup on the first two days of dismissal at Ligon Magnet Middle School was the heat.

Administrators kept students inside as much as possible before carpool and buses got rolling in the afternoon.

"The main priority of course is to make sure everyone is safe in the school from external or internal threats," said Deputy Barros, who has been the SRO for nearly four years.

ALSO SEE | Wake County welcomes back students as some schools experience bus delays

Barros noted that he walks the school four to five times a day.

The Wake County Public School System has upgraded its visitor programs and door-locking mechanisms. It also has a new bag policy at high school sporting events.

But the threats aren't just from people approaching the building.

"Ninety percent of the issues that come from students that reach my ears probably originated from the phones," Barros said. "Whether that is social media in general or students texting one another."

ALSO SEE | Air conditioner issues at Wake County schools catch eye of school board: 'Have to do something'

Mo Canady is the executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers.

He said it doesn't mean those officers are on TikTok and other platforms for eight hours a day, but that is a key part of the job now.

"The pandemic was the perfect storm that really drove people more into the social-media world, and I hate to keep alluding to that but it's a foundational piece of what we're dealing with," Canady said. "It's operating at a speed that none of us can completely keep up with. So it's a constant, constant battle."

Canady said that well-trained officers can find the beginnings of potential incidents before they happen.

He pointed us to the Averted School Violence Database, a national nonprofit advocacy and resource center that helps collaboration across the board.

It lists the different potential acts of violence that were stopped before they happened including one outside a Los Angeles school last week. A 13-year-old was arrested for making threats on social media.

"It takes a community to help all these children," Barros said. "It's not just the SROs, not just the administration staff. We need parents to be involved in these schools. I talk to the kids like anybody else. You'd be surprised how many students and kids want to be treated as though they are adults. Just talk to them that way."

Related Topics

• WAKE COUNTY
• WAKE COUNTY SCHOOLS
• SCHOOL SAFETY
• STUDENT SAFETY

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• 5 minutes ago

Washington superintendent urges schools to update cell phone policies

by Denise Whitaker, KOMO News Reporter

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is jumping on the bandwagon for school districts across Washington to update their cell phone policies by the next school year. (Photo Courtesy: Yondr)

SEATTLE — The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is jumping on the bandwagon for school districts across Washington to update their cell phone policies by the next school year.

A new brief from state Superintendent Chris Reykdal encourages districts to work with their communities over the next year, citing research from 2022.

In 2022, 95% of teenagers had a smartphone compared to 73% in the 2014–15 school year, according to the Pew Research Center.

“The research is clear: Reducing the use of cell phones in class improves concentration and learning, improves mental and physical health, and reduces pressures caused by social media," Reykdal wrote.

“So this is a big thing for me. I do believe in an emergency to contact right to your parents and if things are going off because there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on in school, but I think they should put them away while they’re in class,” Carolyn Sand told KOMO News, referring to cell phones.

The OSPI guidance includes emergencies.

In an emergency — like an active shooter, fire, or earthquake — some parents have told KOMO News they want their students focused on the problem at hand, following instructions or finding ways to stay safe, rather than getting on their phones.

“I think that you’re there to go to school. That’s your job, and it’s too much distraction. It’s too hard,” Mimi Feuereberg told KOMO News.

Her daughter, Natalie Delman, who’s been working in the classroom in Seattle Public Schools, told KOMO News she thinks a policy is a good idea since she saw second and third graders with phones.

“They’re just more focused in class and improve when they just don’t have access to a phone,” Delman told KOMO News. This new homework assignment is for districts to create cell phone policies that limit use - by next school year.

But some of that research is not new, and many schools and districts already have policies in place.

The Everett School District started its policy in 2019. The Peninsula School District in Gig Harbor instituted a policy last school year. Seattle Public Schools has a Bring Your Own Device policy that allows personal devices at school or for online learning.

Individual schools can adopt their own policies, and several have. Hamilton Middle School in north Seattle will be using phone pouches to keep cell phones out of students' hands during the school day when students head back to class in September. Some schools also allow the teachers to create a policy for their classrooms.

But in this new brief on cell phones, the OSPI is encouraging schools to implement uniform, school-wide policies to create ongoing and consistent expectations for students, staff, and families.

“It’s too bad school is starting shortly, and it’s too bad they couldn’t get something in place statewide for this year,” said Feuereberg.

KOMO News asked Reykdal, why now?

“There hasn’t always been a lot of evidence that the interventions work. We didn’t have a real clear understanding of this, so what happens when you intervene? What happens when kids put them in the pouches or you tell them to turn it off? Is there consistent compliance?” answered Reykdal.

He told KOMO News there are school districts in our state that have been through that and so now he said we have good practices that show what works and what doesn’t.

Students in Gig Harbor offered comments to the Peninsula School District when they instituted a cell phone policy there.

Students who agreed with limiting smart devices in schools wrote that it:

• Brought the community together
• Made them feel more connected and seen
• Helped keep them on track and focused
• Improved their mental health
• Improved academic performance

Students also expressed things they didn’t like about the policy:

• Needs better enforcement
• Restricts them from using phones for reminders
• Can't listen to music while studying
• Shifts focus from community to restricting phones
• Policy helps, but students need some leeway

Reykdal is encouraging teachers to work with their communities over the next year to create a plan that will work best for their local context, including exceptions when a teacher is using devices as part of a lesson plan.

“Don’t reinvent the wheel here. It’s already been done,” he said in asking school board members to take on this new policy task by engaging with their entire community.

Reykdal told KOMO News it's the district's job to write policies for principals to tailor to their buildings' culture.

“Because some teachers say no problem use your phone, others don’t. It’s an inconsistency that’s hard and unfair,” said Reykdal.

The vast majority of teachers (90%) say they support policies to restrict phone use during instructional time, and 79% say cell phones are very disruptive, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by the National Education Association.

The state superintendent also told KOMO News they're changing learning standards this school year to include Media Literacy.

“So, it’s not just figuring out how to have a smart policy of phones in the classroom, but also it's teaching our kids more explicitly the impacts of social media and media in general on how they interact with the world,” said Reykdal.

Those new standards, he said will take effect in January.

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How does social media affect mental health?

The pros of social media, the cons of social media, what’s driving your social media use, signs that social media is impacting your mental health, how to change your social media use, step 1: reduce time online, step 2: change your focus, step 3: spend more time with offline friends, step 4: express gratitude, helping a child or teen with unhealthy social media use, social media and mental health are you addicted to social media.

While many of us enjoy staying connected on social media, excessive use can fuel feelings of addiction, anxiety, depression, isolation, and FOMO. Here’s how to modify your habits and improve your mood.

Human beings are social creatures. We need the companionship of others to thrive in life, and the strength of our connections has a huge impact on our mental health and happiness. Being socially connected to others can ease stress, anxiety, and depression, boost self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent loneliness, and even add years to your life. On the flip side, lacking strong social connections can pose a serious risk to your mental and emotional health.

In today’s world, many of us rely on social media platforms such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to find and connect with each other. While each has its benefits, it’s important to remember that social media can never be a replacement for real-world human connection. It requires in-person contact with others to trigger the hormones that alleviate stress and make you feel happier, healthier, and more positive. Ironically for a technology that’s designed to bring people closer together, spending too much time engaging with social media can actually make you feel more lonely and isolated—and exacerbate mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

If you’re spending an excessive amount of time on social media and feelings of sadness, dissatisfaction, frustration, or loneliness are impacting your life, it may be time to re-examine your online habits and find a healthier balance.  

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While virtual interaction on social media doesn’t have the same psychological benefits as face-to-face contact, there are still many positive ways in which it can help you stay connected and support your wellbeing.

Social media enables you to:

• Communicate and stay up to date with family and friends around the world.
• Find new friends and communities; network with other people who share similar interests or ambitions.
• Join or promote worthwhile causes; raise awareness on important issues.
• Seek or offer emotional support during tough times.
• Find vital social and professional connections (such as online therapy ) if you live in a remote area, for example, or have limited independence, social anxiety, or are part of a marginalized group.
• Find an outlet for your creativity and self-expression.
• Discover (with care) sources of valuable information and learning.

Since it’s a relatively new technology, there’s little research to establish the long-term consequences, good or bad, of social media use. However, multiple studies have found a strong link between heavy social media and an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm , and even suicidal thoughts .

Social media may promote negative experiences such as:

Inadequacy about your life or appearance . Even if you know that images you’re viewing on social media are manipulated, they can still make you feel insecure about how you look or what’s going on in your own life. Similarly, we’re all aware that other people tend to share just the highlights of their lives, rarely the low points that everyone experiences. But that doesn’t lessen those feelings of envy and dissatisfaction when you’re scrolling through a friend’s airbrushed photos of their tropical beach holiday or reading about their exciting new promotion at work.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) and social media addiction . While FOMO has been around far longer than social media, sites such as Facebook and Instagram seem to exacerbate feelings that others are having more fun or living better lives than you are. The idea that you’re missing out on certain things can impact your self-esteem, trigger anxiety, and fuel even greater social media use, much like an addiction. FOMO can compel you to pick up your phone every few minutes to check for updates, or compulsively respond to each and every alert—even if that means taking risks while you’re driving, missing out on sleep at night, or prioritizing social media interaction over real world relationships. 

Isolation . A study at the University of Pennsylvania found that high usage of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram increases rather decreases feelings of loneliness . Conversely, the study found that reducing social media usage can actually make you feel less lonely and isolated and improve your overall wellbeing.

Depression and anxiety . Human beings need face-to-face contact to be mentally healthy. Nothing reduces stress and boosts your mood faster or more effectively than eye-to-eye contact with someone who cares about you. The more you prioritize social media interaction over in-person relationships, the more you’re at risk for developing or exacerbating mood disorders such as anxiety and depression .

Cyberbullying. About 10 percent of teens report being bullied on social media and many other users are subjected to offensive comments. Social media platforms such as Twitter can be hotspots for spreading hurtful rumors, lies, and abuse that can leave lasting emotional scars.

Self-absorption.  Sharing endless selfies and all your innermost thoughts on social media can create an unhealthy self-centeredness and distance you from real-life connections.

These days, most of us access social media via our smartphones or tablets. While this makes it very convenient to keep in touch, it also means that social media is always accessible. This round-the-clock, hyper connectivity can trigger impulse control problems, the constant alerts and notifications affecting your concentration and focus, disturbing your sleep, and making you a slave to your phone .

Social media platforms are designed to snare your attention, keep you online, and have you repeatedly checking your screen for updates. It’s how the companies make money. But, much like a gambling compulsion or an addiction to nicotine, alcohol, or drugs, social media use can create psychological cravings. When you receive a like, a share, or a favorable reaction to a post, it can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, the same “reward” chemical that follows winning on a slot machine, taking a bite of chocolate, or lighting up a cigarette, for example. The more you’re rewarded, the more time you want to spend on social media, even if it becomes detrimental to other aspects of your life.

Other causes of unhealthy social media use

A fear of missing out (FOMO) can keep you returning to social media over and over again. Even though there are very few things that can’t wait or need an immediate response, FOMO will have you believing otherwise. Perhaps you’re worried that you’ll be left out of the conversation at school or work if you miss the latest news or gossip on social media? Or maybe you feel that your relationships will suffer if you don’t immediately like, share, or respond to other people’s posts? Or you could be worried you’ll miss out on an invitation or that other people are having a better time than you.

Many of us use social media as a “security blanket”. Whenever we’re in a social situation and feel anxious, awkward, or lonely, we turn to our phones and log on to social media. Of course, interacting with social media only denies you the face-to-face interaction that can help to ease anxiety .

Your heavy social media use could be masking other underlying problems , such as stress, depression, or boredom. If you spend more time on social media when you’re feeling down, lonely, or bored, you may be using it as a way to distract yourself from unpleasant feelings or self-soothe your moods. While it can be difficult at first, allowing yourself to feel can open you up to finding healthier ways to manage your moods .

The vicious cycle of unhealthy social media use

Excessive social media use can create a negative, self-perpetuating cycle:

• When you feel lonely, depressed, anxious, or stressed, you use social media more often—as a way to relieve boredom or feel connected to others.
• Using social media more often, though, increases FOMO and feelings of inadequacy, dissatisfaction, and isolation.
• In turn, these feelings negatively affect your mood and worsen symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress.
• These worsening symptoms cause you to use social media even more, and so the downward spiral continues.

Everyone is different and there is no specific amount of time spent on social media, or the frequency you check for updates, or the number of posts you make that indicates your use is becoming unhealthy. Rather, it has to do with the impact time spent on social media has on your mood and other aspects of your life, along with your motivations for using it.

For example, your social media use may be problematic if it causes you to neglect face-to-face relationships, distracts you from work or school, or leaves you feeling envious, angry, or depressed. Similarly, if you’re motivated to use social media just because you’re bored or lonely, or want to post something to make others jealous or upset, it may be time to reassess your social media habits.

Indicators that social media may be adversely affecting your mental health include:

Spending more time on social media than with real world friends . Using social media has become a substitute for a lot of your offline social interaction. Even if you’re out with friends, you still feel the need to constantly check social media, often driven by feelings that others may be having more fun than you.

Comparing yourself unfavorably with others on social media . You have low self-esteem or negative body image. You may even have patterns of disordered eating.

Experiencing cyberbullying . Or you worry that you have no control over the things people post about you.

Being distracted at school or work . You feel pressure to post regular content about yourself, get comments or likes on your posts, or respond quickly and enthusiastically to friends’ posts.

Having no time for self-reflection . Every spare moment is filled by engaging with social media, leaving you little or no time for reflecting on who you are, what you think, or why you act the way that you do—the things that allow you to grow as a person.

Engaging in risky behavior in order to gain likes , shares, or positive reactions on social media. You play dangerous pranks, post embarrassing material, cyberbully others, or access your phone while driving or in other unsafe situations.  

[ Read: Dealing with Revenge Porn and “Sextortion” ]

Suffering from sleep problems . Do you check social media last thing at night, first thing in the morning, or even when you wake up in the night? The light from phones and other devices can disrupt your sleep , which in turn can have a serious impact on your mental health.

Worsening symptoms of anxiety or depression . Rather than helping to alleviate negative feelings and boost your mood, you feel more anxious, depressed, or lonely after using social media.

If you feel that your social media use has become an addiction, or it’s fueling your levels of anxiety, depression, FOMO, or sense of isolation, the following steps can help you modify your habits :

A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems, and FOMO. But you don’t need to cut back on your social media use that drastically to improve your mental health. The same study concluded that just being more mindful of your social media use can have beneficial results on your mood and focus.  

While 30 minutes a day may not be a realistic target for many of us—let alone a full “social media detox”— we can still benefit from reducing the amount of time we spend on social media. For most of us, that means reducing how much we use our smartphones. The following tips can help:

• Use an app to track how much time you spend on social media each day. Then set a goal for how much you want to reduce it by.
• Turn off your phone at certain times of the day, such as when you’re driving, in a meeting, at the gym, having dinner, spending time with offline friends, or playing with your kids. Don’t take your phone with you to the bathroom.
• Don’t bring your phone or tablet to bed . Turn devices off and leave them in another room overnight to charge.
• Disable social media notifications. It’s hard to resist the constant buzzing, beeping, and dinging of your phone alerting you to new messages. Turning off notifications can help you regain control of your time and focus.
• Limit checks. If you compulsively check your phone every few minutes, wean yourself off by limiting your checks to once every 15 minutes. Then once every 30 minutes, then once an hour. There are apps that can automatically limit when you’re able to access your phone.
• Try removing social media apps from your phone so you can only check Facebook, Twitter and the like from your tablet or computer. If this sounds like too drastic a step, try removing one social media app at a time to see how much you really miss it.

For more tips on reducing your overall phone use, read Smartphone Addiction .

Many of us access social media purely out of habit or to mindlessly kill moments of downtime. But by focusing on your motivation for logging on, you can not only reduce the time you spend on social media, you can also improve your experience and avoid many of the negative aspects.

If you’re accessing social media to find specific information, check on a friend who’s been ill, or share new photos of your kids with family, for example, your experience is likely to be very different than if you’re logging on simply because you’re bored, you want to see how many likes you got from a previous post, or to check if you’re missing out on something.

Next time you go to access social media, pause for a moment and clarify your motivation for doing so.

Are you using social media as a substitute for real life? Is there a healthier substitute for your social media use? If you’re lonely, for example, invite a friend out for coffee instead. Feeling depressed? Take a walk or go to the gym. Bored? Take up a new hobby. Social media may be quick and convenient, but there are often healthier, more effective ways to satisfy a craving.

Are you an active or a passive user on social media? Passively scrolling through posts or anonymously following the interaction of others on social media doesn’t provide any meaningful sense of connection. It may even increase feelings of isolation. Being an active participant, though, will offer you more engagement with others.

Does social media leave you feeling inadequate or disappointed about your life? You can counter symptoms of FOMO by focusing on what you have, rather than what you lack. Make a list of all the positive aspects of your life and read it back when you feel you’re missing out on something better. And remember: no one’s life is ever as perfect as it seems on social media. We all deal with heartache, self-doubt, and disappointment, even if we choose not to share it online.  

We all need the face-to-face company of others to be happy and healthy. At its best, social media is a great tool for facilitating real-life connections. But if you’ve allowed virtual connections to replace real-life friendships in your life, there are plenty of ways to build meaningful connections without relying on social media.

Set aside time each week to interact offline with friends and family. Try to make it a regular get-together where you always keep your phones off.

If you’ve neglected face-to-face friendships, reach out to an old friend (or an online friend) and arrange to meet up. If you both lead busy lives, offer to run errands or exercise together .

Join a club . Find a hobby, creative endeavor, or fitness activity you enjoy and join a group of like-minded individuals that meet on a regular basis.

Don’t let social awkwardness stand in the way . Even if you’re shy, there are proven techniques to  overcome insecurity and build friendships .

If you don’t feel that you have anyone to spend time with, reach out to acquaintances . Lots of other people feel just as uncomfortable about making new friends as you do—so be the one to break the ice. Invite a coworker out for lunch or ask a neighbor or classmate to join you for coffee.

Interact with strangers . Look up from your screen and connect with people you cross paths with on public transport, at the coffee shop, or in the grocery store. Simply smiling or saying hello will improve how you feel—and you never know where it may lead.

Feeling and expressing gratitude about the important things in your life can be a welcome relief to the resentment, animosity, and discontent sometimes generated by social media.

Take time for reflection . Try keeping a gratitude journal or using a gratitude app. Keep track of all the great memories and positives in your life—as well as those things and people you’d miss if they were suddenly absent from your life. If you’re more prone to venting or negative posts, you can even express your gratitude on social media—although you may benefit more from private reflection that isn’t subject to the scrutiny of others. 

[Read: Gratitude: The Benefits and How to Practice It]

Practice mindfulness . Experiencing FOMO and comparing yourself unfavorably to others keeps you dwelling on life’s disappointments and frustrations. Instead of being fully engaged in the present, you’re focused on the “what ifs” and the “if onlys” that prevent you from having a life that matches those you see on social media. By practicing mindfulness , you can learn to live more in the present moment, lessen the impact of FOMO, and improve your overall mental wellbeing.

Volunteer . Just as human beings are hard-wired to seek social connection, we’re also hard-wired to give to others. Helping other people or animals not only enriches your community and benefits a cause that’s important to you, but it also makes you feel happier and more grateful.

Childhood and the teenage years can be filled with developmental challenges and social pressures. For some kids, social media has a way of exacerbating those problems and fueling anxiety, bullying , depression , and issues with self-esteem.

If you’re worried about your child’s social media use, it can be tempting to simply confiscate their phone or other device. But that can create further problems, separating your child from their friends and the positive aspects of social media. Instead, there are other ways to help your child use TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms in a more responsible way.

Monitor and limit your child’s social media use. The more you know about how your child is interacting on social media, the better you’ll be able to address any problems. Parental control apps can help limit your child’s data usage or restrict their phone use to certain times of the day. You can also adjust privacy settings on the different platforms to limit their potential exposure to bullies or predators.

Talk to your child about underlying issues. Problems with social media use can often mask deeper issues. Is your child having problems fitting in at school? Are they suffering from shyness or social anxiety? Are problems at home causing them stress?

Enforce “social media” breaks. For example, you could ban social media until your child has completed their homework in the evening, not allow phones at the dinner table or in their bedroom, and plan family activities that preclude the use of phones or other devices. To prevent sleep problems, always insist phones are turned off at least one hour before bed.

Teach your child how social media is not an accurate reflection of people’s lives. They shouldn’t compare themselves or their lives negatively to others on social media. People only post what they want others to see. Images are manipulated or carefully posed and selected. And having fewer friends on social media doesn’t make your child less popular or less worthy.

Encourage exercise and offline interests. Get your child away from social media by encouraging them to pursue physical activities and hobbies that involve real-world interaction. Exercise is great for relieving anxiety and stress , boosting self-esteem, and improving mood—and is something you can do as a family. The more engaged your child is offline, the less their mood and sense of self-worth will be dependent on how many friends, likes, or shares they have on social media. 

More Information

• Study into wellbeing and social media - Details study linking time spent on social media with decreased wellbeing. (Penn Today, University of Pennsylvania)
• Impact on the mental health of young people - Briefing paper analyzing the impact of social media. (Centre for Mental Health)
• Linking child depression - How heavy Instagram and Facebook use may be affecting kids negatively. (Child Mind Institute)
• Hunt, Melissa G., Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson, and Jordyn Young. “No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression.” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology 37, no. 10 (December 2018): 751–68. Link
• Riehm, Kira E., Kenneth A. Feder, Kayla N. Tormohlen, Rosa M. Crum, Andrea S. Young, Kerry M. Green, Lauren R. Pacek, Lareina N. La Flair, and Ramin Mojtabai. “Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth.” JAMA Psychiatry 76, no. 12 (December 1, 2019): 1266. Link
• Anderson, Monica. (2018, September 27). A majority of teens have been the target of cyberbullying, with name-calling and rumor-spreading being the most common forms of harassment. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Link
• Kross, Ethan, Philippe Verduyn, Emre Demiralp, Jiyoung Park, David Seungjae Lee, Natalie Lin, Holly Shablack, John Jonides, and Oscar Ybarra. “Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults.” PLOS ONE 8, no. 8 (August 14, 2013): e69841. Link
• Twenge, Jean M., Thomas E. Joiner, Megan L. Rogers, and Gabrielle N. Martin. “Increases in Depressive Symptoms, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Suicide Rates Among U.S. Adolescents After 2010 and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time.” Clinical Psychological Science 6, no. 1 (January 1, 2018): 3–17. Link
• Ilakkuvan, Vinu, Amanda Johnson, Andrea C. Villanti, W. Douglas Evans, and Monique Turner. “Patterns of Social Media Use and Their Relationship to Health Risks Among Young Adults.” Journal of Adolescent Health 64, no. 2 (February 2019): 158–64. Link
• Primack, Brian A., Ariel Shensa, Jaime E. Sidani, Erin O. Whaite, Liu Yi Lin, Daniel Rosen, Jason B. Colditz, Ana Radovic, and Elizabeth Miller. “Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 53, no. 1 (July 2017): 1–8. Link

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