6 December 2016

Secretariat 16 December 2016

“The impact of social media on the mental health of students and staff”

  • Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of the West of England
  • Dr Anne Haase, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol

Professor Steve West began his comments by explaining the prevalence of social media use among students at university and how the institutions have started to capitalise on this to connect to students before they even arrive. He noted that in his own experience it had been useful for the university to use social media groups to help students feel connected to the university, arguing that the quicker a student feels comfortable the more likely they are to benefit faster from their education. He also noted that within an increasingly global society, connectivity is important for staff and students.

However, Professor West went on to argue that in addition to the positive opportunities that social media presents there are of course negative side-affects. He suggested that people are spending up to three hours a day on social networking sites and that therefore this amount of interaction could be a cause for concern with regards to the mental well-being of staff and students. He described how it was not unusual for a lecturer or seminar leader to walk into a room and see people disconnected with the world around them but connected elsewhere through social media in that moment. Referring to research which states that one in four people experience some kind of mental well-being issues in any one year, he argued that if universities could work to get mental health and well-being to an optimal level the performance of staff and students would be better. Students would get better grades and staff would be more engaged and productive.

Professor West noted that universities across the country are seeing a significant increase in their students accessing mental health support services, citing cyber-bulling, sexual harassment and stresses. The research in this area is limited and more needs to be done to ensure that universities are getting the balance correct between encouraging use of social media positively, providing education or re-education to make students aware of the possible dangers, and providing the correct mental health support.

He concluded his comments by referring to a programme of work that he will be leading across all universities in partnership with Universities UK, sponsored by the funding council, which looks at mental health support from a strategic perspective. Developing in partnership, tools which can support staff and students and ways to share best practice.