Social Media Effects on Health Habits

Social media in recent decades has grown to become an essential part of everyday life. The rise of new social media platforms, such as TikTok, has brought many concerns in how excessive usage may or may not affect other areas of life. While prior research has been aimed toward older social media platforms, this study is more focused on the growing impacts of current popular apps, like TikTok, that have yet to be thoroughly researched. This study aims to understand the relationship between social media and health habits such as sleep, body image, and attention span, specifically within college students. Data will be collected through a self-assessed survey of around 300 Psychology 101 students. We hypothesize that excessive social media usage will have an effect on students’ sleep, body image, and attention span. Late adolescence and early adulthood are crucial developmental periods in an individual’s life; understanding the role that social media plays during these life stages will benefit us in our overall understanding of human behavior, cognition, and social influences.