The Psychology of the Infinite Scroll: Why Is It So Hard to Put Our Phones Down?

Introduction of Goals and Aims of the Study This article goes in depth on college students experiencing stress from financial instability. Concerns about paying for education and basic needs raise questions about how debt shapes the decisions students make for themselves. Specifically, the researchers wanted to examine how debt influences financial anxiety. They sampled 180 college students who sought financial counseling at their university in a Midwestern state and measured their financial anxiety using the newly developed Financial Anxiety Scale (FAS). “Financial mental health” was a term used frequently to describe the stress that comes from a lack of financial comfort, framing the study around understanding mental health through the lens of finances, especially debt.

Introduction of Goals and Aim of the Study Sleep gets talked about. So does diet, exercise, screen time, water intake, basically the usual list. Personality? Not really. It rarely shows up when people discuss long-term health, even though it probably should. Shipley and colleagues (2007) explored that exact gap. Their study drew on Hans Eysenck’s biological theory of personality, which ties straight back to what most psych students cover in class. The researchers wanted to know whether two of Eysenck’s three major traits, neuroticism and extraversion, could predict how long a person lives. Neuroticism, in Eysenck’s framing, is about emotional reactivity: anxious tendencies, mood instability, the kind of brain that struggles to settle once it has been stirred up. Extraversion describes a different tendency, one that is more outward, more social, and more drawn to stimulation and other people. The aim of the study was pretty bold for personality research: take thousands of adults, measure their personality traits once, and follow them for 21 years to see whether those baseline traits were connected to who lived and who didn’t.

Children's mental health is shaped by a variety of factors, from family relationships and school environments to social expectations and experiences with discrimination. As conversations surrounding mental health continue to expand, it is important to consider whether children from different cultural backgrounds receive care that reflects their experiences and needs. Therapy can provide children with an opportunity to express their emotions, develop coping strategies, and work through difficult experiences. However, the effectiveness of therapy may depend partly on whether children feel understood by the professionals providing their care. For Black children, experiences with racism, cultural identity, and social inequality can influence their emotional well-being in ways that should be considered during treatment. Research on culturally adapted psychological interventions suggests that incorporating cultural context into mental health treatment may improve outcomes for young people experiencing depression and anxiety (Mishu et al., 2023). Rather than assuming that the same therapeutic approaches work equally well for every child, culturally responsive therapy considers how family values, cultural identity, and lived experiences influence psychological development. These considerations are particularly important when working with Black children, whose emotional and behavioral experiences may sometimes be interpreted without sufficient attention to their social environments. When therapists overlook these influences, they risk misunderstanding children's experiences or focusing on their behavior without considering the circumstances contributing to it. Play therapy offers one approach to addressing these concerns because it allows children to communicate and explore their emotions through activities such as storytelling, drawing, imaginative play, and games. These methods can be particularly useful for children who may have difficulty expressing complicated feelings through conversation alone. In her book Black Students Matter: Play Therapy Techniques to Support Black Students Experiencing Racial Trauma , April D. Duncan (2024) discusses how play therapy can be used to support Black students experiencing racial trauma and emphasizes the importance of cultural humility in therapeutic practice. Culturally responsive play therapy does not mean assuming that every Black child has the same experiences. Instead, it encourages therapists to consider each child's individual background while recognizing how race, discrimination, family relationships, and school environments may influence their mental health. Understanding the importance of culturally responsive play therapy requires examining not only the techniques therapists use, but also the assumptions that influence how they understand children's behavior. By considering the relationship between culture, emotional development, and therapeutic practice, mental health professionals may be better equipped to provide care that recognizes children's experiences rather than overlooking them. Ultimately, culturally responsive play therapy highlights the importance of understanding the child within their social environment and creating therapeutic spaces where Black children feel understood and supported. References American Psychological Association. (2017). Multicultural guidelines: An ecological approach to context, identity, and intersectionality. https://www.apa.org/about/policy/multicultural-guidelines.pdf Duncan, A. D. (2024). Black students matter: Play therapy techniques to support Black students experiencing racial trauma. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197669266.001.0001 Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., & DeBlaere, C. (2025). Cultural humility: Engaging diverse identities in therapy (2nd ed.). American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/cultural-humility-second-edition Mishu, M. P., Tindall, L., Kerrigan, P., & Gega, L. (2023). Cross-culturally adapted psychological interventions for the treatment of depression and/or anxiety among young people: A scoping review. PLOS ONE, 18(10), e0290653. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290653 Clauss-Ehlers, C. S., Chiriboga, D. A., Hunter, S. J., Roysircar, G., & Tummala-Narra, P. (2019). APA multicultural guidelines executive summary: Ecological approach to context, identity, and intersectionality. American Psychologist, 74(2), 232–244. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000382

Introduction and Goals The study aimed to examine the relationship between childhood trauma history and negative social experiences in college. Specifically, it focused on whether individuals who experienced trauma in childhood were more likely to encounter harmful interpersonal situations later in life. The researchers considered both direct trauma, such as personally experiencing abuse, and indirect trauma, such as witnessing violence. A central concept in the study is revictimization, which refers to experiencing victimization again after a previous experience of victimization. The study explored negative social experiences, including hazing, bullying, and sexual harassment, and examined the role of depression and stress in the relationship between childhood trauma and these experiences. Overall, the research sought to better understand how early traumatic experiences relate to social vulnerability and wellbeing during emerging adulthood. 

Introduction Media is everywhere these days, and toddlers and young children are consuming more of it than ever. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limiting media exposure for infants before the age of two because it can lead to adverse effects on their development (Tomopoulos et al., 2010). The main aim of Tomopoulos et al. was to determine whether media exposure at 6 months of age affected cognitive development at 14 months. Methods The study was conducted between November 2005 and January 2008 and included 259 mother-infant dyads from urban, low-socioeconomic-status families. Out of the 259 infants, 249 were exposed to media at 6 months for an average of 124 minutes per day, though exact times varied for each infant. To get a sense of what the children were actually watching, researchers interviewed their mothers. The media was then divided into four categories. These were educational young child-oriented programs such as Sesame Street and Blue’s Clues, noneducational young child-oriented programs such as SpongeBob SquarePants, older child or adult-oriented programs such as Law and Order and Good Morning America, and unknown programs that could not be categorized. Once the children reached 14 months, the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) and the Preschool Language Scale-4 (PLS-4) were used to assess their cognitive ability.

Introduction Being a college student brings with it many expectations about success. You’re expected to excel academically, gain some professional experience, build connections, and think about your future career. Social media makes it more accessible to see what your peers are doing . A quick scroll through Instagram or LinkedIn can show posts about internships, scholarships, study abroad experiences, new jobs, awards, and all sorts of achievements. While these updates might seem harmless, they can also push students to reflect on their own journeys compared to others. For instance, if someone lands an internship, another student might start questioning if they should be pursuing one too. This ties back to social comparison, which is how we assess ourselves in relation to others. Social comparison isn’t always a bad thing, but social media gives students nonstop chances to measure themselves against curated versions of other people’s lives. So, it raises a key question: How does seeing other people's achievements on social media shape college students' views of their own success? In this project, I dive into this by interviewing college students about their social media habits, what success means to them, their experiences with comparison, and how they react to others’ accomplishments online. Literature Review Social Comparison Theory, originally developed by Leon Festinger (1954), provides a useful framework for understanding how social media may influence students' perceptions of themselves. Festinger argued that people tend to evaluate their opinions and abilities by comparing themselves with others, particularly when objective standards for evaluation are unavailable. Social media creates an environment where these comparisons can happen frequently because users are constantly exposed to information about other people's experiences and accomplishments. This can be especially relevant when students make upward comparisons, or comparisons with people they perceive as doing better than themselves. Research on social networking sites suggests that social comparison has become particularly common online because social media allows people to encounter large numbers of other people's lives and accomplishments. Verduyn et al. (2020) found that social networking sites provide especially frequent opportunities for social comparison, while Meier and Johnson (2022) emphasize that the effects of these comparisons are not always negative and can vary depending on the individual and situation. For example, seeing someone else's success may create pressure or feelings of inadequacy, but it can also provide motivation or inspiration. This distinction is important because social media does not necessarily determine how students will feel when they see someone else's achievement. Instead, factors such as the person's relationship to the poster, their own goals, and how they interpret the post may shape their reaction. Rafiq and Linden (2024) similarly highlight the importance of curated self-presentation on social media, since users generally see selected aspects of other people's lives rather than a complete picture. Therefore, social media may influence students' perceptions of success not because it provides an accurate representation of how everyone else is doing, but because it gives students repeated opportunities to evaluate themselves against these representations. Methods For this project, I used a qualitative interview approach to explore how college students experience social media comparison and how it may shape their perceptions of success. I conducted semi-structured interviews with college students, allowing me to ask the same general questions across interviews while also asking follow-up questions based on each participant's responses. The interviews focused on participants' social media use, their definitions of success, their reactions to seeing other people's accomplishments, experiences with comparing themselves to others, and whether social media made them feel motivated, pressured, or behind. I also asked participants to reflect on whether they believed social media accurately represented other students' lives and accomplishments. After conducting the interviews, I looked across participants' responses for recurring themes and similarities as well as differences in their experiences. To protect participants' privacy, I use pseudonyms rather than their real names when discussing their responses. This approach allowed me to examine participants' personal experiences while connecting their responses to the broader psychological concept of social comparison. Highlighted Quotes: “Wow, like I'm not doing enough... These are the people I'm competing against... for jobs or for grants or like grad school. So it's something that makes me feel a bit like behind.” “For my friends, usually my first instinct is to be happy. But then for acquaintances... I start thinking like, wow, like this person is doing... And then I'm like, what am I doing with my life?” “Even if it's written in the typical LinkedIn fashion... there's still truth to these words.” “I just got into a very toxic mindset of like comparison... I felt like I wasn't very accomplished in what I did.” Discussion The interviews suggest that social media can influence how college students evaluate their own success, but this influence is more nuanced than simply making students feel inadequate. Across the interviews, participants described social media as a space where they are exposed to other people's accomplishments, but their reactions depended largely on their relationship to the person posting and their own expectations for success. One participant, “Jordan,” explained that seeing accomplishments from close friends usually made them feel happy, while seeing achievements from people in similar academic or career paths prompted more comparison. They described seeing someone receive a STEM scholarship and immediately wondering, “should I be doing that right?” Untitled - September 22, 2026 (… Similarly, “Maya” described seeing peers' accomplishments as both encouraging and discouraging depending on how close she was to them. She explained that she generally felt happy for close friends, but seeing acquaintances accomplish things in similar fields made her think, “what am I doing with my life?” A major theme across the interviews was the feeling of being behind. This was especially apparent when participants compared themselves to people they perceived as being on a similar path. “Maya” described seeing a peer's medical assistant certification and immediately thinking about how she did not have enough clinical hours for medical school. Another participant described social media as making them feel that everyone else was accomplishing more, although they also recognized that these posts did not represent people's entire lives. This connects to the idea of upward social comparison, in which individuals evaluate themselves against people they perceive as being ahead of them. However, the interviews also suggest that students are not passive recipients of these comparisons. Several participants recognized that social media presents a curated version of other people's lives. One participant noted that Instagram is designed to show people “put their best foot forward,” while another observed that LinkedIn can make someone appear much more successful than they actually are. At the same time, social media was not the primary source of participants' definitions of success. Multiple participants identified family, personal goals, and in-person interactions as more influential. For example, “Jordan” explained that their ideas about success were shaped more by their family and older sibling's career than by social media. Another participant similarly said that their definition of success came primarily from their parents and emphasized financial independence. Overall, these interviews suggest that social media may not necessarily determine what college students consider successful, but it can make existing expectations more visible and provide frequent opportunities to compare oneself to others. This supports the idea that social comparison on social media is highly dependent on individual context rather than producing the same psychological response in everyone. Conclusion In summary, the interviews suggest social media plays a complex role in how college students perceive their own success. Participants didn’t necessarily think that social media defined what success meant to them. Instead, their definitions were often influenced by family, personal goals, academic settings, and experiences beyond social media. However, social media did offer another platform for them to assess whether they were living up to those expectations. Watching peers land internships, scholarships, jobs, or other achievements could spark motivation, yet it could also lead to anxiety or feelings of falling behind. It’s also essential to note that participants recognized that social media doesn’t capture the complete reality of someone’s life. Even with that understanding, simply knowing that posts are curated didn’t always stop them from comparing themselves. This suggests that the influence of social media might not come from convincing students that others are genuinely more successful but from consistently making others’ achievements visible. Ultimately, the interviews reveal that social comparison on social media isn’t experienced the same way by every college student. Who they choose to compare themselves to, what they value, and how they interpret what they see all play a role in whether another person’s success motivates them, pressures them, or doesn’t affect them at all. Bibliography Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001872675400700202 Verduyn, P., Gugushvili, N., Massar, K., Täht, K., & Kross, E. (2020). Social comparison on social networking sites. Current Opinion in Psychology, 36, 32–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2020.04.002 Meier, A., & Johnson, B. K. (2022). Social comparison and envy on social media: A critical review. Current Opinion in Psychology, 45, 101302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101302 Rafiq, R., & Linden, S. (2024). Social Media and Self-Concept Among Postsecondary Students: A Scoping Review. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 27(3). https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2023.0451 

Self-regulation skills, such as regulating emotions and attention, are vital to children’s development of problem-solving, socialization, language, and relationship-building skills (Blume et al., 2025). These skills are influenced by genetics, interpersonal relationships, and life experiences, with parent-child relationships being particularly relevant. Specifically, parenting styles, categorized by Blume et al. as supportive, suppressive, and passive, are important influences on self-regulation skills, as well as overall health, behavior, and developmental outcomes. Blume et al. define parenting as “supportive” when it encourages independence, emotional and behavioral regulation, or socially adaptive behavior. This can be seen through affectionate communication, responsive behavior, emotional support, and the use of reasoning strategies. The second parenting style, “suppressive,” involves directly structuring children’s behavior and forcibly redirecting their attention. This is demonstrated through strict emotional control, harsh discipline, aggression, and restriction. Lastly, Blume et al. define “passive” parenting as behavior that neither specifically encourages nor discourages independence, emotional and behavioral regulation, or socially adaptive behavior. Examples include parental monitoring, asking questions without expressing an opinion, and observation without interaction. To examine the relationship between these parenting styles and self-regulation, the researchers operationalized self-regulation as “The ability to independently control behavior, emotional states, and reactivity in the context of intrinsic or extrinsic stressors, problems, or changes.”

There has been wide discourse on the effect of caffeine on mental well-being for decades. In recent years, several kinds of energy drinks have grown in popularity. Marketed with bright colors and health benefits, such as added probiotics or protein, these products have attracted a larger audience of consumers. Energy drinks are targeted particularly toward young consumers. Despite being marketed as mental and physical energy boosters, their caffeine content can be incredibly high, with the potential to cause caffeine intoxication (Richards & Smith, 2016).  Despite concerns about the effects of energy drinks, research on their association with mental well-being was limited at the time of the study. Trapp and colleagues explored this association by measuring depression, anxiety, and stress using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21; Trapp et al., 2014). The study used data from a follow-up of the Raine Study, which originally recruited participants between 1989 and 1991. Conducted between 2009 and 2011, the follow-up included 1,062 young Australian adults with a mean age of 20 years.

Introduction The various stages of the menstrual cycle affect women in many ways: physically, hormonally, and mentally. Rarely throughout the cycle are females in a state of homeostasis (Mitra et al., 2025). This constant fluctuation in hormone levels and physical symptoms severely affects the lives of these females, as it can result in distraction, lower academic or workplace performance, and negative physical health (Mitra et al., 2025; Bhuvaneswari et al., 2019). The effects aren’t exactly minor. Mitra et al. used this study to examine the physical and mental benefits of participating in a yoga program during the menstrual cycle for college-aged women. The authors suggest that engagement in regular yoga programs will have overall positive benefits on women’s psychophysiological health throughout the typical menstrual cycle. The study was conducted using 82 college-aged females from India who have a normal menstrual cycle and don’t regularly practice yoga. Methods Prospective participants went through an extensive screening process to ensure they met the necessary criteria. Self-report questionnaires were then used to record the various stages of the menstrual cycle, basal body temperature, and menstrual distress symptoms. The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) was also administered. Participants in the experimental group engaged in regular, guided yoga and mindfulness practice, following the same sequence of movements, for a period of three months, and their reported results were then compared to the responses of the control group. Notably, there was no biological measure of hormone or stress levels; the data relied entirely on self-report.