We are interested in the topic of social media usage and the mental health of students. We hope to answer the question: What is the correlation between time spent using social media and mental health and how do they relate to academic performance? This topic is of the utmost importance to the young people of the digital age. Our generation was the first to grow up completely surrounded by the information-rich environment of the internet. The effects of our circumstances have been truly extraordinary. The internet has totally revolutionized how we live our lives; impacting things such as education, communication, and our how we obtain information. While the internet’s effects have proved advantageous to the tech-savvy generation of tomorrow, we wish to delve into a different topic that affect so many youths who spend their time online. Since its inception, social media has allowed people to interact as they have never done before. People are able to put their lives on display 24/7 for all their friends to see. But what are the psychological effects of this perpetual exposure? Does social media create an unrealistic standard of living, because it is the “highlight reel” of a person’s life? These are some of the pressing matters we could examine if we choose to research this topic.
If you are interested in participating in our study, please contact us at either mccrack3@wwu.edu or sheridp3@wwu.edu.