Social media can leave adults feeling anxious when scrolling turns into career comparison, repeated checking for reassurance, or a steady stream of upsetting news. The experience can depend on what you see, why you opened the app, and what was already on your mind. Paying attention to those patterns can help you decide what to change.

You open LinkedIn to reply to a colleague and see three promotions before you reach your inbox. Later, you check Instagram to catch up with friends and leave wondering why everyone else seems to have more time, money, or energy. By bedtime, you’re refreshing a news feed for updates on a story you’ve already read.

Each of those moments can leave you uneasy for different reasons. At Notre Dame de Namur University’s School of Psychology, that difference reflects a central idea in the study of mental health: understanding a habit starts with understanding the person and the circumstances around it. Work, relationships, family responsibilities, and life transitions can all influence what a person takes away from the same feed. Explore NDNU’s School of Psychology.

Why does social media make some adults feel anxious?

Career updates can make your own progress feel inadequate

A colleague’s promotion can be welcome news. If you’re deciding whether to change careers, returning to work after caregiving, or applying for jobs without hearing back, it can also bring up the question, “Am I falling behind?”

That question is easier to work with when you name what you actually want. Maybe you want more responsibility, a better schedule, or work that feels meaningful. Each points to a different next step. A few minutes looking for a role that fits your priorities may leave you with something more concrete than another round of scrolling.

Doomscrolling can feel like a way to manage uncertainty

Doomscrolling is the habit of continuing to scroll through distressing news or updates. During an election, a crisis, or an uncertain period at work, checking for updates can feel like a way to prepare. After a while, you may be continuing to see distressing news, rereading the same information, looking for an answer that hasn’t arrived yet. All of which can have an additive effect in making anxiety worse.

Before refreshing, try asking, “What am I hoping to find out, and would it change what I do today?” If there’s a specific answer you need, go directly to a reliable source. If you’ve already learned what you need to know, choose when you’ll check again and give yourself permission to step away.

Staying connected can start to feel like being constantly available

For adults, social media and messaging often overlap with work, family logistics, and friendships. A notification may be a project update, a family request, or a friend checking in. If all of those alerts arrive throughout dinner or while you’re winding down, it can be hard to feel off duty.

Think about which people and responsibilities need a quick response. You might keep calls from family available, silence professional networking alerts after work, and check social messages when you have time to respond. That gives the people who need you a way to reach you and gives you some control over when you open the feed.

Does taking a break from social media help with anxiety?

A short break may help some adults. In one randomized study, adults assigned to take a one-week break from social media reported lower anxiety symptoms at the end of the week than those who continued using it as usual. Another one-week experiment found no clear benefit from a larger reduction compared with a smaller reduction. These studies tested different changes over a short period, so the results don’t tell us how any one person will respond or whether an improvement will last.

You can try a smaller experiment based on when scrolling tends to leave you anxious:

  • If career posts are the trigger, open LinkedIn for a specific task, such as replying to a message or looking up a role, and close it when you’re done.
  • If the news keeps pulling you back, set a time to check a reliable source and turn off alerts you rarely act on.
  • If scrolling leaves you feeling disconnected, try contacting someone directly. A message to a friend may be closer to what you were looking for when you opened the app.
  • If social media follows you into bed, try moving your last check earlier and see whether you find it easier to wind down.

After a few days, ask yourself how you feel during the part of the day you wanted to change. Are you more present at dinner? Less distracted after work? Still thinking about the same problem? The answer can help you decide whether to keep the boundary or pay more attention to the worry underneath it.

How NDNU’s School of Psychology studies anxiety in the context of adult life

Imagine two adults who spend the same amount of time on social media. One recently moved and uses it to stay close to friends. The other has been passed over for a promotion and keeps checking former coworkers’ career updates. A screen-time total would tell you very little about what either person needs.

NDNU’s School of Psychology takes an integrative approach to understanding people across the lifespan. Students examine how individual experiences, relationships, and cultural expectations interact. A conversation about online anxiety might lead to questions about how someone defines success, how a couple handles expectations about availability, or how a major life transition has changed someone’s sense of belonging. Those questions help connect what happens on a screen to what is happening in a person’s life. Notre Dame de Namur University

NDNU offers several ways to study these questions, depending on where you are in your education and what you want to do next.

  • BA in Psychology Degree Completion. If you’re returning to finish your bachelor’s degree, this pathway offers a foundation for studying human behavior. Topics such as social influence and development can help explain why the same online experience feels different at different stages of adulthood. Explore NDNU’s psychology programs. Notre Dame de Namur University
  • MS in Clinical Psychology. This non-licensure graduate program offers deeper study of psychological theory and its applications. For example, students can consider how habits such as repeated checking fit into a broader picture of stress, relationships, and coping. Explore the MS in Clinical Psychology. www.ndnu.edu
  • MS in Clinical Psychology with Marriage and Family Therapy. This pathway provides academic preparation for California MFT licensure. An issue such as phone use during family time offers an example of how an individual habit can become part of a larger conversation about communication, expectations, and connection. Explore the MFT pathway. NDNU
  • MS in Clinical Psychology with MFT and LPCC. This combined pathway provides academic preparation for both California licensure tracks. It’s an option for students interested in clinical work that considers individual concerns, such as persistent worry, alongside the relationships and environments that shape them. Explore the MFT/LPCC pathway. NDNU

Frequently asked questions

Why do I feel anxious after scrolling even when nothing bad happened?

A career update, a friend’s milestone, or a series of headlines can bring an existing concern to the surface. Ask yourself which post stayed with you and what it brought up. You may find that the feeling is tied to a decision or uncertainty you were already carrying.

Can I manage social media anxiety without deleting my accounts?

You can start by changing when you check, how long you check for, which accounts you follow, or which notifications you receive. If you use social media for work or to stay close to people, try protecting one part of your day from the feed while keeping the features you rely on.

When is it worth talking to a mental health professional?

If worry regularly interferes with sleep, work, or relationships, consider discussing it with a licensed mental health professional. You can describe when you tend to go online, how you feel afterward, and whether that same worry comes up elsewhere in your life.

For a look at how online comparison affects younger people, read Growing Up Online: Social Media, Comparison Culture, and the Rise in Teen Anxiety.