Social media connects students, but many can’t unplug

BY CROSS HARRIS @thecrossharris

Take a look around LSU’s campus on any given day at any given time, and you’ll see students walking to class, sitting on benches, sprawled out on the grass in the shade. Look closer, and you’ll notice that nearly every one of them is on their phone.

To live in the year 2023 is to be more or less constantly, electronically connected. A little over 10 years ago, only 35% of Americans owned a smartphone, according to the Pew Research Center. Today, that figure’s approaching 90%, and for college-age adults, it’s 96%.

Not only do we have smartphones, but we use them. A lot.

The average American spent over two hours on social media each and every day in 2022, according to market and consumer data supplier Statista.

Some students at LSU put that figure to shame.

“I would say, ballpark, probably four to five hours a day,” said psychology junior Bry Morse. “Mainly TikTok and Snapchat.”

For Morse, social media is a source of conveniently dosed en- joyment.

“It makes me a little happier,” she said. “If I need a pick-me-up, I can tend to find videos that make me laugh. It makes me feel good to send videos to my friends that I think they’ll like.”

But from time to time, Morse also considers deleting her social media.

“I have before, and it was really hard. I found that I was a lot more bored than I thought I would be, and I was like ‘oh my gosh, I have a dependance, no!’ But now I have time-locks on my apps,” Morse said. “On TikTok specifically, after 90 minutes, it’ll ask me for a password to continue, but I force myself to shut it down.”

Many LSU students struggle with managing their time on social media.

“It’s very addicting,” said dental hygiene freshman Taylor Stryzewski. “I have a hard time using my free time in other ways.”

In fact, Strzyzewski struggled to pin down exactly how many hours she spent on social media each week because the number was so high.

“I’m trying to do the math in my head,” she said. “Maybe about 200?”

There are only 168 hours in a week.

Stryzewski said although she spends about half of all her time on social media, she’d never considered taking a break from the apps. “I do learn a lot from the things I see,” she added.

When asked how much time she spent on social media, biology freshman Katie Shannon responded simply, “Way too much.”

But apps like Messages and Snapchat are how she stays in touch with friends and family.

“It connects me to more of my peers, and I get to see what’s going on on campus. Also, I’m so far away from home, I’m from Chi-