My entire middle school through high school career, I've had people whom I have envied for their grades, and as my friend would put it, "academic weapon" energy. As I've gotten more into social media, the number of people I compare myself to has gone up exponentially and so has my stress. My AP classes have gone from an opportunity to learn more to a knowledge battleground.

Who studied for X amount of hours for this test? What did so-and-so get? These endless comparison questions have only gotten worse with social media deflating my confidence.

The problem is, I'm not alone.

Around 20% of teens in the U.S admit to poor mental health, with 95% of the teen population having some sort of social media app. As if high school wasn’t hard enough, social media has given us a way to judge our own ‘academic weapon’ energy to others. When we don’t meet the same standards that we see constantly online, we start to fall into unhealthy patterns.

In this article, we will look at why social media plays such a huge role in mental health and how to improve your mental health while still having social media.

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Academic FOMO

Many of us have people in our lives who seem to always have their lives in perfect order, juggling academics, and extracurricular activities seamlessly without ever faltering. You feel proud of them and a bit of envy. Why can't I grind through my homework for 4 hours after swim practice?

Why can't I manage a job and take hard classes at the same time? Why is he so popular yet smart? These questions get compounded with social media, as it seems like everyone is like these superhumans. Get ready with me at 5 am, to let's take notes aesthetically on how to ace every test with 1 hour of studying. We often forget that these people don't do this every day, and rarely have good mental health.

Furthermore, already addictive social media algorithms make it even harder to stop watching these toxic videos, and lead to doom scrolling these videos without accomplishing anything during this time. The already turbulent adolescent years become worse as you believe that you are below average, even if you are at the top of your class or even in the middle. Sometimes social media about studying makes people want to not even start studying themselves because it doesn’t look the same as on the screen.

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How to Authentically Crush It

1. Time Your Screen Time

This really helps ensure that you spend your time responsibly. For example, you can put on the iPhone Focus mode, which can help you moderate your social media apps to be more productive. You can even use an ordinary timer, which you can set to whatever time you're willing to spend scrolling.

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2. Avoid School-Related Influencers

Rather than learning about how to study like a student, let’s watch a puppy eating food or watch a makeup tutorial. Watch videos that make you feel happy, relaxed, and amused rather than stressed. This also ensures that you can keep your school life and personal life separate.

People such as firefighters often use this type of compartmentalization to help ensure that stressors from their occupation do not get in the way of their own happiness. This can help you be even more productive, as your brain gets a break from thinking about studying.

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3. Use the Pomodoro Technique

This involves taking short breaks during studying and is especially helpful for people with ADHD. This technique often breaks down an hour into 25 minutes of studying, 5 minutes of resting. If you really struggle with focus, you can use YouTube videos from creators like Pomodoro Cat, which has the breaks built into the video.

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Conclusion

Overall, it is important to remember that what we see online is rarely the truth, just as makeup influencers can use filters to appear slimmer or have clearer skin, people can change the way things actually look online. AI can be used to make notes seem neater; recording can allow for retakes of scenes and even make it so a 4-hour "Study With Me" video can be recorded over several days. Furthermore, reminding yourself that you are talented just the way you are, no matter your strengths, whether academic or otherwise, is far more important than grades.

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