From the Kokosing Institute:

Only a few miles away from Silicon Valley’s giant Meta headquarters, Bay Area
teenagers are scrolling for hours, stuck in the midst of endless screens and curated online
content. The region is reputable for its elite education in California, with its schools
pushing students into top universities. However, a destructive reality lies beneath this
veneer of success:

Bay Area teens are stuck in a cycle of academic comparison, sleepless
nights, and deteriorating mental health. Short-form content’s curated lifestyles and ideals
of success feed an unhealthy, addictive loop that intensifies existing academic pressures.

Between April and June 2025, we at the Kokosing Institute, a youth-led,
youth-focused research initiative in the Bay Area, surveyed 263 sophomores and juniors
at over ten private and public high schools to get a pulse on short-form media, AI usage,
and school culture.

Our findings were a wake-up call: comparison-driven short-form
feeds intense pressure in already rigorous, competitive school environments.
Prioritizing academic excellence and competitive college admissions has become
the default culture among Bay Area teens, setting the stage for mental health struggles.

We have seen firsthand how our classmates are glued to their computers, working for
hours on assignments. Around two-thirds of students surveyed (62.7%) said that when
they see someone their age succeed online – in college admissions, projects, or
awards – they think, “I should be doing more.” For 73.8% of students, career choice is
not a decision about interest, but a pressure to chase income.

Try scrolling through a teen’s “for you page.” They go past just funny memes and
dances but are instead flooded with endless stat comparisons, one-size-fits-all Ivy League
“roadmaps”. Many of our classmates’ socials have been flooded with stats of teens getting
rejected from their dream schools despite having a 4.0 and participating in many
extracurricular activities. In a culture where an above-average GPA can feel merely
average, achievement is often valued over personal interests.

We still see teens constantly on social media – while walking down the hallway, in
between classes, soaking up other success stories. 81% of Bay Area high schoolers we
surveyed said they felt more inadequate compared to their peers after time on short-form
platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Over 97% said they know the feeds
are engineered to maximize attention. Despite that awareness, many teens struggle to log
off and thus are continually exposed to polished versions of academic and extracurricular
“perfection.” The rise of short-term media has fueled a cycle of distraction and
comparison that amplifies academic pressure, and today, the format is inescapable.

The impact is catastrophic. As comparison accumulates, it creates a
self-perpetuating cycle of anxiety. Students come to school with bags under their eyes,
struggling from their sleepless and anxious nights of scrolling. When sad or anxious,
59.3% of students told us they use social media as a distraction. Yet while scrolling to
distract, around 52.5% associate it with FOMO, 33.5% feel pressure to be perfect, and
46.8% feel anxious or lonely afterward. The problem is, when social media creates these
negative connotations, teens continue to desire a distraction: more social media. It
becomes an endless cycle of emotional dependence on short-term media and endless
self-sabotage.

This cycle can erode mental health. Trends move fast, peers’ milestones are
always in view, and the numbers about colleges and achievements never stop. The effect
is a constant urge to keep up – especially in the Bay Area. National numbers point the
same way: U.S. teens spend about 4.8 hours a day on social media; in 2023, only one in
four slept eight hours on school nights; and roughly 40% of high school students reported
persistent sadness or hopelessness. This is happening right in front of us: Phones are the
first refuge and the steady stressor.

Addressing the mental health crisis fueled by online pressure for academic
excellence means recognizing that these issues stem from social ideals surrounding
success that we cannot change overnight. However, we can make meaningful change with
small actions, like normalizing imperfection by sharing disappointments or setbacks on
social media and sharing stories of people who found success through untraditional paths.
It is critical for young people to understand that failure is not a shortcoming but an
essential step towards growth and that success cannot come without it.

Mirabella Sibbitt, Sophia Lee, Alina Wang and Avani Mitra represent the Kokosing Institute.