Distress among Students in Groningen

Photo: Banksy, Nobody Likes Me – Social Media Boy

University of Groningen

Distress among Students in Groningen

Bachelor Thesis

I hereby declare that this bachelor thesis entitled "Distress among Students in Groningen" is a record of independent research work and that it has been carried out by me during the final stage of my bachelor Media Studies at the University of Groningen (UG). I, therefore, declare that this dissertation is my original work. I also certify that all sources have been accurately reported and duly acknowledged in the text and provided in the list of references. No element of this thesis was previously displayed for another degree at this or any other University.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to Dr Sander Hölsgens, my research supervisor for his professional guidance and valuable support. Finally, my thanks to Maartje, Lena and Luke for their generosity in allowing me to use their stories. All have read and approved this paper.

Table of contents

Acknowledgements ... 3

Abstract ... 5

Chapter 1. Introduction ... 6

Chapter 2. Theoretical framework ... 8

Chapter 3. Methodology ... 13

Chapter 4. Research results ... 21

Chapter 5. Discussion ... 37

Chapter 6. Conclusion ... 39

Chapter 7. Limitations ... 40

References ... 41

Appendix A: Informed Consent Form ... 46

Appendix B: Interview Structure ... 47

Appendix C: English Biographical Summaries ... 48

Abstract

This qualitative study aims at better understanding the phenomenon of distress among students by analyzing the feelings and experiences of students in Groningen. This is relevant, since academic distress is considered as a growing problem and already prevalent among university students in the Netherlands (Sleek, 2017 & Chaudron, 2019). What’s more, research has shown that young people suffer from a serious kind of social media stress (Hop & Delver, 2012). Therefore, more knowledge needs to be gained on, firstly, what those experiences of academic distress entail, and secondly, what role social media play in the experiences of students regarding distress.

For this reason, this study focuses on the following research question: “What is the role of social media use in students’ experiences of distress, and what do those experiences entail?” To answer this research question, I will sample respondents from within the student population in Groningen. I have chosen Groningen since this city is considered as one of the main university cities in the Netherlands. By conducting qualitative interviews with students, this study will investigate what academic distress means for students and what feelings they experience concerning distress throughout their academic career. By adopting the method of life-story interviewing and semi-structured interviewing, the subjective feelings and experiences of students who can relate to academic distress will come to the fore. Hence, by building on the social comparison theory of Festinger and the Meritocracy theory, this research hopes to investigate how social media is connected to academic students experiencing elements of distress. The purpose of this study is to understand the experiences of academic distress by fusing sociological studies and discussions to media studies.

KEYWORDS: academic distress, stress, social media, students, life-story interviewing, social comparison theory, meritocracy

Chapter 1. Introduction

It was long assumed that students were the least affected population by psychological problems (LSVb, 2017). However, in 2013, the Landelijke Studentenvakbond (LSVb) published a report that declared that, in the Netherlands, 49% of the students have or have had psychological complaints (Schmidt and Simons, 2013). The most cited complaints were depression, fatigue and stress. Since this report, psychological problems among students became more acknowledged as a critical issue, and thereby, actively picked up by various media outlets including Trouw, NOS, EenVandaag and the Volkskrant. Even though the attention for psychological complaints among students has grown, the question of why and how students experience stress nowadays remains difficult to answer. However, there are many speculations. One theory is that our society has pushed students more and more to be obsessed with performance and success, making them more vulnerable for stressors that concern their academic life-path (Young, 1958). Nonetheless, not knowing the exact feelings and experiences of students experiencing distress is a problem, since distress can result in severe elements of burnout, which is unfavorable for the individual, but as well for society as a whole because these effects can be enduring – even into adulthood – and have, as a result, a critical impact on the overall well-being (Sleek, 2017).

At the same time, social media has entered our daily lives. Previous studies have shown that adolescence, the life-period where most students are found to be in, is the stage of social identity formation (Erikson, 1950). Due to the digital information age, a great deal of these adolescence’s personal progressions is now partly dependent on social media (Drogos, 2015). Having less ability for self-regulation and their vulnerability to peer pressure, adolescents - and thus many students - may not avoid the conceivably conflicting effects of social media use. To continue on this, studies have shown that extensive social media use have an effect on self-development, self-expression and self-esteem (Chen & Lee, 2013 & Gabriel, 2014). One example of this is the relationship between feedback received online and self-esteem. Kristin Drogos concluded in her study that an increased frequency of receiving negative feedback was related to participants having a lower self-esteem (Drogos, 2015). Moreover, young and highly educated individuals find it more important to see what others are doing on social networking sites (77%) in comparison to low and middle educated young individuals in the Netherlands (61% and 64% respectively) (CBS, 2015). Additionally, compared to MBO students, university students happen to be more sensitive to social media feedback. Gaining likes, positive reactions, retweets or shares make about 70% of university students feel good, compared to 55% of the MBO students. All these statistics are gained from a certified report of the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) and provided a foundation for this research. As proved in these statistics, academic students are more sensitive to the effects of social media use in relation to their feelings and experiences, which may stimulate elements of academic distress.

1.1. Research statement

To better understand the intention of this research, I will now unpack my research question, which is: “What is the role of social media use in student’s experiences of distress, and what do those experiences entail?” It can be assumed that the research question has two elements of inquiry. First, the research question has the attempt to understand the subjective experiences and feelings of students regarding the topic of academic distress, and second, it tries to analyze to what extent social media use plays a role in students’ experiences of distress. As a Media Studies student, I find the question of whether social media plays a role in the increase of mental problems among students an interesting one. As social media extends reshaping contemporary communication, this research strives to make sense of how the globally popular social networking sites may influence the overall well-being of students. The connection between social media use (i.e., platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram) and stress receives substantial public attention, and is often considered as a causal relationship (Betul et al, 2020). However, I believe this relationship has not been investigated enough. Considering the extensive adoption of the globally popular medium and its extreme presence in the daily lives of many individuals, this thesis wants to understand how social media use relates to distress among academic students in Groningen. This is relevant, because as a media studies student, I recognize the importance to consider media effects when examining current societal occurrences. According to Potter (2012), the media are constantly programming and re-programming the internal self. Media are accumulating and adjusting our contemporary information structures, stimulating reactions and augment the particular patterns in our actions and rationale. Given that students are above average sensitive to social media feedback, we can’t deny that social media brings to bear a certain effect on us (Potter, 2012).

To conclude, answering the research question of this thesis is not meant to read as an exact record of why distress happens within the academic atmosphere. It should be clear that the personal narratives provided by the sampling and data collection methods are valuable on its own because it explains the subjective perspective of academic students that can relate to some form of distress. As well, by answering the research question this research can narrate the personal reality of students and thereby, will provide us clues on how humans construct personal meaning. Accordingly, it supports this research with a better understanding of the feelings and experiences of students that relate to elements of academic distress and how they relate to social media concerning this matter. Thus, the goal of this research question is not to know how to prevent academic distress, but to better understand the student population regarding the topic of academic distress and how students make sense of social media, that accordingly, relate to their subjective feelings and experiences concerning the academic atmosphere. Therefore, the research question will be answered sufficiently when valuable insight into the aforementioned subjective experiences and feelings regarding academic distress has been gained.

Chapter 2. Theoretical framework

The introduction has addressed how the context of social media use may stimulate an increase in psychological problems, like distress, among academic students in Groningen. From here, it should be clear that this research focuses on the concepts of academic distress and social media use. Furthermore, this theoretical framework aims specific attention to the meritocracy theory and social comparison theory, since these theories seem to be most relevant within the context of my study. In this chapter, attention will be paid on why these theories are useful for understanding the subjective feelings and experiences of students on academic distress and social media use.

Through this theoretical lens, I have formed my categorical hypothesis based on the research objectives of this study. This hypothesis illustrates the following categorical themes: (1) Subjective experiences of academic distress, (2) subjective experiences that relate to the Performance Society, (3) subjective experiences that relate to social comparing, (4) subjective experiences that relate to social media. Through these categorical themes (CT’s), this research hopes to gain greater insight on how and why students in Groningen feel and experience elements of distress and consequently, how they relate to social media on this account.

2.1. Academic distress

This paragraph will clarify the concept of academic distress in more detail by also outlining the distinction between stress and distress.

Stress is the individual’s physical response to any change that demands an adaptation or reaction. The body responds to these probabilities with physical, psychical, and emotional reactions. The human body is designed to manage various levels of stress. Stress can have a positive outcome, it can help us to stay alert and motivated (Cleveland Clinic, 2020). Stress can develop in a negative experience when an individual faces constant confrontation without relaxation between stressors. As a result, the individual becomes overworked, which can run up to elements of distress and burnout (Alsulami et al, 2018 & National Research Council, 2018).

Consequently, academic stress is stress with respect to physical irritation connected to the possibility of academic failure or having a high pressure to perform (Al-Sowygh, 2013). Students are confronted with many obligatory academic demands, such as producing academic progress, grade competitions, and conforming to the academic expectations of their parents and instructors. As a consequence, students can be under a lot of stress. Academic stress can be experienced in a positive matter, where it predominantly functions as a motivational element (Stress, Signs, Symptoms, 2020). However, when experienced negatively, this research understands it as academic distress. Since almost all challenges of students are related to the performance of academic achievement, the notion of academic distress is associated with students experiencing severe and prolonged elements of stress caused by irritations connected to the possibility to fail certain academic goals (Lal, 2014). This research

will investigate how academic students in Groningen make sense of academic distress by taking subjective experiencing into account.

2.2. Meritocracy theory

As the introduction briefly touched upon, students may experience more stress nowadays due to a change in our society. As explained above, this research will continue on this thought.

The great emphasis students seem to place on ‘succeeding’ and ‘performing’ are characteristics of the performance society, as well termed as the ‘meritocracy’ (Dekker, 2019). The term meritocracy was first coined in ‘The Rise of Meritocracy’ by British sociologist and political scientist Michael Young in 1958. He describes meritocracy as a society in which it is up to the people to determine how high they will establish themselves on the social ladder (Young, 1958). Furthermore, the element of income seems to count for someone's social position, and it must be equally possible for everyone to distinguish themselves from others. This gives every individual the position to reflect on his or her abilities and to develop themselves (Young, 1958). Since the 1960s, meritocracy (literally: merit-based rule) has manifested itself more and more in Dutch society (Elshout, 2016). Social success is less determined by origin and privileges and more determined by achievements, own initiative, talent and the influence of the living environment (Swierstra & Tonkens (ed.), 2008). As Elshout explains, “The idea that success and failure is due to personal merit is rooted in everyday life and dominates the political discourse. It feeds the public imagination (Elshout, 2016)”. Thus, the partial performance society emphasizes that everyone’s fate is in their own hands and that you are responsible for your own success and failure.

These prevailing ideas of the performance society can lead to pressure on students mentioned earlier. This personal responsibility of our fate is related to the reflexive modernity in which we live according to Giddens (1991) and in which the ‘self’ is regarded as a cognitive project that constantly makes choices. Individuals, according to Giddens, wonder who they are and want to be, what to do and how to do it. In this sense, everyone forms his or her own lifestyle, which requires choices; “we have no choice but to choose” (Giddens, 1991, p.81). Accordingly, these choices place an emphasis on performance and success. Students are in a phase of life in which they are no children nor adults. For the current generation of students, this large load of choices seems to be increasingly difficult because of their extreme awareness of things they have not chosen (Schwartz, 2004). Launspach et al (2016) found that highly educated people experience more stress by making choices than low educated people. Cooper (2014) illustrates that this may have to do with the fact that university diplomas create more possibilities, but nowadays, no longer guarantees for a good job, status or success. Moreover, in 2017, SCP concluded that highly educated people link a lot of status to a busy life and long working days (Roeters & Vlasbom, 2017). Status and success seem to be of great importance within this target group. As Dekker explains, more young people experience performance pressure as a result of the

aforementioned performance culture, which as well increases the number of burnouts among young people in the Netherlands (Dekker, 2019).

De Botton (2004) attributes to this by stating that the performance society may also play a role in our emotional life. He argues that the performance society is accompanied by growing status anxiety. Likewise, De Botton (2004) states that individuals require two kinds of love: the (sexual) love of another person and the love of the world. Both are equally complicated, important and universal. Nevertheless, the love of the world remains more hidden and is, therefore, more embarrassing because it is less discussed. In a meritocracy this love of the world is greatly fueled, because it is preferably expressed in status. Therefore, it is also accompanied by status anxiety. It is the deep, inexplicable fear of becoming a nobody, of being forgotten and trampled by the world (Swierstra & Tonkens, 2006a, p. 64). De Botton (2004) observes how the meritocracy is driving growth in concern about being considered important in terms of performance and income. As a result, the increase to such expectations also means that there is a greater chance of humiliation if these expectations do not come true. In short, the price for meritocracy is the permanent fear that we are less in the eyes of others, according to De Botton (Swierstra & Tonkens, 2006a, p. 64).

The importance of performance and success, in combination with the abundance of possibilities by emphasizing everyone’s own responsibility to succeed, are two characteristics of the performance society that influence the role of mental health within the academic atmosphere and are therefore central to this research. The two meritocratic features reinforce each other, which seems to increase the experience of distress. Moreover, individuals adapt their emotions to social expectations. The process of assessing these feelings becomes more difficult in times of rapid social change, where social media functions as a tool to communicate and watch over other individuals’ lives.

The results of this research discuss whether these theoretical findings correspond to the experiences of students. Before these will be discussed, the chapter "Methodology" discusses how the results were obtained. In the following paragraphs, an additional stressor will be further explained in relation to the performance society and social media use.

2.3. Social comparison theory

Next to the meritocracy theory, this thesis adopts the social comparison theory of Festinger (1954), which demonstrates that individuals tend to compare themselves to others to estimate their beliefs, skills and successes. Interestingly, such behavior is more prevalent in adolescents, than in children and grown-ups (Krayer, Ingledew, & Iphofen, 2008; Myers & Crowther, 2009; Hop & Delver, 2012). The influence of social media on human reasoning may vary between those who are involved in downward social comparison (a comparison with an individual having lower or lesser performances) or individuals who accept the more successful performers as a reference point. Thus, due to social media it seems more accessible for individuals to compare themselves with others, and as a consequence, frequent

social comparisons may result in destructive emotions and behaviors (Festinger, 1954; Collins, 1996; White et al, 2006; Hsu et al, 2010).

Because of the raised visibility that social media enables, individuals, can easily compare themselves with others online. By doing so, they primarily perceive the positive representations of what other’s document of themselves due to the act of impression management. Thus, the aspect of impressing others, a process whereby individuals exercise strategic management over the images that others have of them, play a significant role on social media platforms (Leary & Kowalski, 1990; Hogan, 2010). Impression management guarantees that status updates on social media are often as positive as possible (Kramer & Winter, 2008). For instance, individuals predominantly share pictures online where they find themselves attractive (Lee-Won et al, 2014).

Thus, the act of comparison (also via social media) can stimulate positive or negative outcomes. By comparing upwards and thereby, by seeing the achievements of others, comparing could stimulate motivational effects on an individual (Collins, 1996). The individual with whom the upward comparison is made will act as a role model. The occupation of the ideal image provokes an urge to perform. Thus, motivation for performance will develop. Furthermore, a downward comparison —a confrontation with an individual who is worse off — can result in a higher motivation to perform. Thoughts like "I do much better than he does" play a significant role in this (Festinger, 1954; Collins, 1996). Performance motivation has its origin in ‘need theory’ proposed by David McClelland, and includes the urge to succeed and thereby, the ambition to distinguish itself from others through greater performance (McClelland, 1985; Gazzaninga & Heatherthon 2006). For instance, individuals with a high-performance motivation are more likely to assign themselves to hard assignments, so that they can differentiate themselves from others. It is plausible that social media use affects the urge to perform due to the expanded option to compare. In other words, it may be that social media use is positively associated with performance motivation.

Along with the promising effects established by social comparing, it is also assumed that social comparing can be accompanied by destructive experiences and feelings such as regret, guilt and distress (White et al, 2006). As an illustration, by consciously perceiving the highlights of others, the idea "I will never thrive" can evoke feelings of irritation and frustration. Also, due to large contradictions with individuals who seem to perform more excelling, this social comparison can lead to negative consequences on the individual’s self-esteem (Festinger, 1954). Individuals with low self-esteem often act from performance anxiety (Eliott et al, 2006). Performance anxiety is accompanied by the expectation of negative results. Since individuals with performance anxiety tend to avoid situations in which they might fail, this element can be accompanied by actual failure (Conroy & Coatsworth, 2007). It is therefore also expected that social media use, and the comparison that comes with it, may increase the fear of failure of an individual, which ultimately may lead to distress.

To conclude, a distinction can be made between the will to succeed (performance motivation) and a fear to fail (Performance anxiety) (Atkinson & Feather, 1966; McClelland, 1985; Elliot & Church

1997; Moneta 2011). Various studies indicate that both performance motivation and performance anxiety are predictors of distress, and even burnout (Rainey, 1995; Jepson & Forrest, 2006; Rice et al, 2009). In some studies, however, the effect of performance motivation on stress has not been concluded (Hsu et al, 2010; Sideris, 2015). In this thesis, attention will be paid to both possibilities.

Chapter 3. Methodology

This chapter describes the research methods used for this study. This thesis was set up as a social-empirical research using qualitative research methods. First, the sampling strategy and respondents will be described. Additionally, it will outline my considerations on the COVID-19 limitations regarding the participants needed for this study. Secondly, it mentions my positionality as a student and my positionality of having a pre-existing relationship with the participants. Furthermore, attention is paid to describe the data collection and analyzing methods. Finally, this chapter opens up a discussion concerning the validity and reliability of this research.

3.1.1. Sampling strategy

This research draws on Hood's 'generic purposive sampling' strategy, having the intention to examine potential participants in a strategic manner so that those individuals sampled are relevant to the research question that is proposed (Hood, 2007). To know the relevance of each participant in advance, two preceding questions were asked: If they were interested in participating to my study, and if so, if they have ever experienced some kind of distress regarding their studies. If one responded ‘yes’ to both questions, the individual could be considered as qualified for this research. To continue on this, as Alan Bryman (2016) stated, the generic purposive sampling strategy is most often fixed and a priori, which is relatable to this study, since it focuses on academic students within the city of Groningen. This strategy would allow for site- and context-specific insights that would help to tackle the point at issue of this research. What’s more, it would be beneficial for the sample being large enough to sufficiently describe the phenomenon of interest and answer the research question adequately. Therefore, by drawing on academic students in Groningen, the sample is specific enough to gain a valuable understanding of the context-specific results acquired by the research question and the personal narratives of the individuals sampled.

Furthermore, as I will explain, this research will adopt a non-sequential manner to purposive sampling. The conception of non-sequential infers that the research units for this study are more or less 'fixed' early on in the research process. For this reason, little adjustments are made to the sample as the research proceeds (Teddlie & Yu, 2007). The aforementioned matters also indicate that the present research operates on 'a priori' purposive sampling strategy because the criteria for selecting units are verified within the origins of this research (Hood, 2007).

3.2.1. Participants

Prior to each interview, participants were informed about the main topic of this research and additionally, an informed consent form was signed (See Appendix A). Moreover, an agreement was

made that each interview would be processed anonymously. Consequently, all interviewees have a pseudonym. The table below show some basic information about the participants of this study:

Table 1: Basic information of the Participants

3.2.2.

COVID-19 limitation and participants

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the sampling strategy of this research demanded to be modified. Since this study embraces life-story interviewing as the dominant method, the element of interviewing in real-life has been viewed as extremely valuable and important to the provision of gathering the detailed information, on the emotional and subjective experiences of each respondent. However, due to the COVID-19 circumstances, it became simply impossible to carry out real-life interviews with people who were external to the researcher’s close social environment. Thus, the alternative to conduct interviews digitally – rather than in real-life – would guarantee for a diminishing effect on the quality and openness of this study. Therefore, I have chosen the alternative to interview students within my close social environment. By drawing upon Gummesson (2003), who encourages researchers to consider methodological decisions that presents them the highest feasible entry to reality which are best at summing results that fit that reality, also if this means interviewing acquaintances. Furthermore, Gummesson (2003) mentions that the main essence of purposeful sampling is about finding the participants that deliver the best data. Bearing in mind the current situation of COVID-19, the situation of interviewing close contacts would be most beneficial for prosecuting this study, in comparison to other alternatives. Therefore, I have chosen to interview one friend, one roommate, and a friend’s roommate, rather than interviewing external individuals digitally.

Since all participants have a pre-existing relationship with the researcher, the advantages and limitations need to be discussed. Obviously, if objectivity is the aim of this research, then the interviewing of acquaintances cannot be called ‘good’ research. However, this research is all about personal experiences and subjectivity. Thus, interviewing an acquaintance would not – per se - frustrate the quality of research. Paradoxically, it might even increase the trustworthiness of research. As Walford (2007) commends, some of the key issues of qualitative interviews are that participants may have lacking or faulty memory or have subjective understandings; and can only give what they are able

to disclose. However, interviewing acquaintances might diminish these issues, considering that the acquainted-interviewer might be more able to relate to the bits and pieces that these interviewees retrieve from memory during the inquiry; and may have a better understanding of it that enables the interviewer to better interpret the interplay between ‘objective’ experiences and subjective perceptions (Hockey, 1993). Moreover, it has been argued that interviewees are more willing to engage in an open debate with an acquaintance, than with a priory-unknown interviewer. Additionally, it would increase the possibility for in-depth discussions with greater honesty (Corbin et al, 2009). Thus, more subjective and complex experiences can be exposed, and the uprightness and correctness of responses can more easily be measured, grounded on the already established bond of trust (Price, 2002).

Moreover, what is crucial to note is that qualitative research can never achieve a ‘true’ record of any subjective experience or feeling whether we are, in terms, an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’— distinct interviewers have diverse impacts to the response given. “The assumption that the true account of a person’s views and experiences exists suggests that within each individual there is one unique story which somehow needs to be ‘unlocked’ (Elliott et al, 2002)”. The validity and reliability section will elaborate on this in greater detail.

3.3.1. Reflexivity and Researcher Positionality

Positionality is a researcher’s perspective on its investigation field. It is the social framework that forms the researcher’s identity in terms of race, class, gender, status etc. Positionality further defines how a researcher’s identity possibly affects, and potentially biases, the understanding and outlook of the particular study in modes of background knowledge, identities, experiences, values and assumptions. Therefore, for this research, it is crucial to be reflexive on my positionality for two specific reasons: Namely, my positionality as a student, and secondly, my positionality of having pre-existing relationships with the participants.

3.3.2. Positionality as a student

As a student of the University of Groningen (from now on: UG), I am aware of the various possible stressors that may come from being a student in the 21th century. Likewise, I feel that most of today’s students around here are extremely active on social media, which may result - directly or indirectly - in the increase of stress among academic students as found in the literature (see introduction). My personal experience is that social media indeed influences my overall well-being in a sense of perfectionism. However, I am aware that my own subjective experience of it is no universal truth when relating to other students. What’s more, since the Dutch society seems to live more and more in a Meritocracy, the experience of it may feel as living in a performance society where more and more people have an urge to perform and succeed, which may increase feelings of pressure. However, while I personally acknowledge that I would accept the statement on behalf of my own experiences, I understand this will

not guarantee for other students experiencing it the same. Therefore, I am completely aware that the personal experiences of academic stress qualified as my own, can be completely different when compared to other students and their relation to it. By acknowledging these possible differences or equalities, I cherished to understand more about how other students experience elements of stress during their academic career, how their feelings of it may or may not change over time, and how they describe their subjective experiences of being a student in general. What’s more, I want to see if other students experience a relation between academic distress, social media use, the performance society, and elements of social comparing, to see if the literature review of this study is correctly incorporated within this research. My positionality may have limitations, however, as well as benefits, since I can position myself easily in other student’s experiences and feelings that relate to the academic culture in Groningen.

Whereas I could easily relate to the topics of this research on a personal level, the subjective experiences of the participants were recognized more easily, which helped this research to better understand the subjective experiences and feelings regarding academic distress and social media use.

3.3.3. Positionality of having pre-existing relationships with participants

Because of the condition of doing research with participants I have pre-existing relationships with, I understand that my role and position as a researcher can be viewed differently. Nevertheless, my position towards the participants in question will hold the role of a researcher and interviewer, even though in contemporary life, my character towards them has been differently, namely as a friend, roommate or acquaintance. The participants have been informed about my position as a researcher / interviewer during the research process. During the interview, I am aware of my pre-existing relationship, However, I will stay professional during the whole research process. Nevertheless, the setting of the interview will inhabit an informal and friendly ambience, which helps the students to feel more at ease during the interviewing process. Thus, I will position myself as the friend and researcher they can trust and can openly discuss with. This knowledge of trust is valuable and can easily be gained from the pre-existing relationship, which I view as an extra benefit for this research.

3.4.1. Data collection

Six qualitative interviews were conducted to collect the data of three participants. The data of each participant were collected in two interview sessions; first, a life-story interview, and thereafter, a semi-structured interview. In the first interview, each interviewee was encouraged to tell the story of his/her academic path. In the second interview, each interviewee was motivated to reflect on his/her life-story interview and to elaborate on their responses in greater depth as well as to tell additional stories that were not covered yet in the life-story interview. For this research, interviewing each participant in twofold had the advantage of gaining richer data, and thereby, ensured that the research question could

be answered in more detail. In both interviews, I was concerned to diminish my influence on how the narrative was connected. Furthermore, each set of interviewing lasted from an hour to a maximum of two hours, where students were invited to talk about their academic life-path, definitions of academic distress, personal experiences, perceptions of social media use and associated feelings.

To briefly touch upon the data collection methods used for this research, a life-story is an interdisciplinary approach to understand not only one life across time but also how individuals interreact with the whole. As Atkinson (1998) explains, individual life can be best understood through a story, since then, greater context and meaning on the subject will be gained. “Storytelling makes the implicit explicit, the hidden seen, the unformed formed, and the confusing clear (Atkinson, 1998, p.7).” For this research, the life-story interview was used for gathering knowledge on the subjective essence of individual life and focused predominantly on the participant’s academic path. The adoption of life-story interviewing was valuable for this research because it had an explanatory purpose and underpinned the feelings and experiences of academic students on a current issue that concerned them (Atkinson, 1998).

Additionally, a semi-structured interview had been used as a follow-up method for the life-story interview. The semi-structured interview did not follow a formalized list of questions but rather functioned to shed light on the narrative that had been created by the life-story interview (Bryman, 2016). By combining life-story interviewing and semi-structured interviewing, the weight was on how the interviewee framed and experienced matters and issues – what the interviewee viewed as relevant in describing and interpreting events, individual patterns, and particular forms of behavior. Since the experiences and feelings of the students were exposed around the element of academic distress, qualitative interviewing was a suitable method. The interview guide can be viewed in Appendix B.

At last, the interviews were conducted in the native language of the interviewees, to give priority to subjectivity. Interviewing in the native language gave a deeper and closer insight into the feelings and experiences of each participant. After the conduction of each interview, the interviewer could easily contact the participants for further questioning when an entity within the data wasn’t clear enough for analysis.

3.5.1. Data structure and Data analysis

In this thesis, all interviews were recorded and thereafter transcribed. However, before doing any analysis, the life-story interview and semi-structured interview were combined and transformed into a biographical narrative, entirely in the dispute of the participant that told the story (Atkinson, 1998). Structuring the interviews into biographical narratives are a common approach when doing life-story interviewing, but it also improved the coherence of the subjective experiences and feelings of the participants, giving a clearer overview for analysis. The biographical outline of each participant can be

observed in Appendix C. A translated summary of the biographical stories of each participant can be observed in Appendix B.

In this research, narrative analysis has been used as an approach to the extraction and analysis of data that is conscious to the understanding of the temporal progression that individuals - as providers of narratives - report about themselves or their experiences by which they are affected. This is done through the act of telling stories, which are injected by their own identifications of their worlds (Bryman, 2016). By adopting narrative analysis as a method, the research focus transfers from “what actually happened” to “how do people make sense of what happened and to what effect? (Bryman, 2016)” Furthermore, the method of life-story interviewing has been a prominent framework for the employment of narrative analysis. This, because the narrative analysis is an approach to analyze qualitative data, which highlights what individuals apply to stories of experiences (Atkinson, 1998).

Since there are different forms of narrative analysis, this research focused on narrative analysis with a context to discovery (Reichenbach, 1938), an open-ended narrative account for finding broad patterns, themes, and characterizations to explore the particular phenomenon in greater detail, in order to develop new ways of describing and understanding academic distress and its relation with social media. The analyzing process was largely inductive, meaning that this research began with concrete observations of the phenomenon itself, with the attempt to develop a more abstract description about the phenomenon being studied (Holstein, 2011). This had been done by analyzing the biographical stories of the participants in-depth. What kind of stories do academic students in Groningen tell about their own feelings and experiences concerning distress and their academic life-path? How do they make sense to it? How do they describe and relate to their own social media use? Do their narratives of their academic life-path bear any resemblance to the stories they tell about how they view the lives of other academic students in Groningen? These were the questions that guided the exploration of findings. Moreover, analyzing life-story research mostly have two phases; one, analysis is founded in a theoretical basis and second, the analysis is interpreted from the emergence of personal and subjective references (Atkinson, 2011). Therefore, even in the context of discovery, researchers do not start out blank (Holstein, 2011). Based on prior reading of the research literature concerning academic distress, this research holds some theoretical predilection that implicitly, if not explicitly, helped to guide the search for categorical themes: (1) Subjective experiences of academic distress, (2) subjective experiences that relate to the Performance Society, (3) subjective experiences that relate to social comparing, (4) subjective experiences that relate to social media.

As the in depth reading of the biography of each interviewee proceeded, I began to note some patterns and similarities across each biographical narrative. The significant excerpts were repeatedly noted, which gradually developed a set of integrative themes that appeared to capture interesting features of analysis. This provided an comprehensible and flexible admission for examining qualitative information that can offer an sophisticated, precise and essential justification of the collected data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Hence, the provision of themes provided a greater understanding of the

experiences and feelings of the interviewees, since this method facilitates an effective way to recognize, evaluate and decode patterns of meaning (or ‘themes’) within qualitative data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Nonetheless, the scientific goal in the context of discovery is to gain new insights, not to confirm predetermined categories. Therefore, it was still unclear what this research would discover.

3.6.1. Validity and reliability

In most cases, the reliability of research depends on the extent to which the research can be repeated (Boeije, 2005). Thus, the validity of the research is generally the extent to which questioning yields a ‘sound’ quality of fit among the information received and what is demanded (Holstein & Gubrium). However, through the very nature of life-story interviewing, no two researchers will conduct or analyze a life-story in an absolute replicable fashion. This has to do with the fact that every researcher adopting the method of story interviewing will seek subjective viewpoints on life’s being lived. The life-story interview is thus, a highly personal encounter and as a consequence, the analysis of the life-life-story interview is highly subjective too. Therefore, what matters most for a life story interview to encounter the reliability and validity determination to some extent, is whether the research can be deemed trustworthy, rather than correct or true (Atkinson, 1998).

To know whether this life story research can be deemed as trustworthy, I will adopt ‘internal consistency’ as the primary quality examination for measuring the validity and reliability of this research. According to Cohler (1982), the way a subjective narrative is conveyed in every moment of one’s life embodies the most inwardly consistent understanding of how one experienced its past, perceives the present, and how the future will be anticipated upon by that particular individual. This implies that what is told in one section of the narrative should not contradict in another section. Of course, inconsistencies in life are nothing unusual, and individuals may respond differently to identical events at times, however, their accounts on what happened and what they did, should be consistent within itself. Consequently, by adopting the measure of internal consistency, I can refine initial observations with new insights if they appear to be offbeat (McCracken, 1988).

Next, I have included ‘subjective corroboration’ as a second measure to check the validity of this research. Subjective corroboration means that the already transcribed and altered life-story (within this research; the biographical narrative) is given to the participant to read over. The life-story is validated when the storyteller confirms and supports the life-story document as correctly written. Correctly written means that the participant in question sees the biographical narrative as being equal to the original narration of the participant’s memory of it. This is important, because the participant is, after all, the first author. The participant will be the one to determine how it all fits together, what makes sense within the life-story, and whether or not it is a valid story. The participant is the one that determines what gets told and whether something stays equivalent or will be corrected.

To conclude, when both measures are exercised in a proper manner by all units, the research can be viewed as validity correct. Since both aforementioned methods were successfully applied in a conventional manner by all the participants within this research, I can argue this research is validated.

Chapter 4. Research results

Three students (Maartje, Lena, Luke) were interviewed for analysis. The interviewed students differed from each other in study-discipline, study-year, and age. Moreover, they all narrated authentic patterns of feelings and experiences regarding their academic life-path. Nonetheless, they all declared that distress is experienced and felt by every academic student in particular ways.

In this chapter, the similarities and differences between participants on the concepts of academic distress and social media use will be demonstrated. This will be done through the categorical themes (CT’s) that are established for this research. Within these categories, the prominent patterns of each participant will be outlined. The citations are gathered from the original transcriptions and are professionally translated from Dutch to English. However, first, a short introduction of the students:

Maartje (20) is a second-year Human Movement Sciences student living in a student house in the city-center of Groningen. Maartje can be described as a busy-bee and a cheerful student that enjoys her student-life in every bit. In her free time, she is regularly found at her study association where she will also do a board-year coming year. Next to this, she loves to play field-hockey and is currently learning to play the guitar. Hence, she likes to hang-out with her friends, finding it difficult to say ‘no’ to social events because she hates the ‘Fear Of Missing Out’.

Lena (23) is a third-year Arts, Culture and Media student living also in a student-house in the city-center of Groningen. Lena can be described as a very creative and ambitious student who has climbed her way up to University, even though she started at Secondary Vocational Education (from now on: MBO), due to undesirable reasons. Nonetheless, aside from her strong perseverance, she loves to be an active student and accomplishes this by doing a board year and by fulfilling a lot of committees at her student association, next to her busy and valuable social life.

Luke (19) is a first-year Law student who has lived his whole life in Groningen. Since a view month, he lives in a student house in the city-center of Groningen. Luke can be described as a sporty and thoughtful young student, who has been through a lot, even before his student-life began. Nevertheless, he enjoys life to the fullest by drinking beers with his friends and by searching for, and, developing ‘nice’ music. He makes it either by playing the guitar or on his laptop with distinct DJ Music Software applications. He will also register himself to a student association coming year.

CT1: Defining academic distress

In this paragraph, the subjective feelings and experiences of academic distress will come to the fore. As I have mentioned in the sampling strategy, all three students feel and experience some form of academic distress throughout their academic life-path. However, the students differ from each other in the causes and how they feel and experience the phenomenon. Thus, each student will be displayed on how they experience their most prominent academic stressors.

Throughout Maartje’s biographical narrative, one pattern that came forward was her stressor and difficulty regarding saying ‘no’ to social events. Her agenda happens to be continually pack-jammed and during the end of each study-block, she experiences social exhaustion, feeling extremely tired even before the exam-weeks begin. She defined this social need as having a ‘fear of missing out’. In addition to this, another pattern, ‘perfectionism’, was prominently apparent throughout her narrative:

Narrative 1: Maartje For Lena, the pattern that came forward the most was her ‘urge to perform’ and her ‘urge to prove herself’. She explains in her biographical narrative that she often feels insecure about her cleverness and performances. Another strong pattern within her narrative depicts her battle against her past:

Narrative 2: Lena It seems, that Lena’s urge to perform is a consequence of how she has experienced her past, as she elaborates in the citations. As she has experienced negative elements throughout her life, Lena feels that she ‘needs’ to prove that she is worth it, to herself, and to others, and also to wipe out her bad start. She feels that her successes now will give more security for a good future. Therefore, she is doing everything in her power to build her CV and to develop herself to such an extent that it, consequently, affects her life with many stressors. It seems so unmanageable that her roommate worries about her health-condition.

Within Luke’s biographical narrative, academic distress found multiple patterns. In the narrative, he elaborates on his dyslexia and his worrisome of not feeling smart enough for the University at times, since he often experiences the issue of not understanding the exact meaning of the assignments given, and the expanded workload in comparison to his previous educations. All in all, he experiences stress caused by the possibility of failing his first year. Furthermore, the fourth narrative illustrates Luke’s thoughts on student distress in general:

Narrative 3&4: Luke However, what also demands consideration within Luke’s narrative, are patterns of grieve and confusion. During the interviews, Luke expresses his mental burden about his father, who passed away nearly 3 years ago, by reason of self-destruction. Many questions and insecurities about his father’s passing are spinning through his head every day. Thoughts he cannot shake-off easily, creating heavy stressors that also influence his studying to a certain degree.

CT2: Defining performance society

In this paragraph, the subjective feelings and experiences of the performance society will come to the fore. All three the student’s express patterns concerning ‘performing’ and ‘succeeding’, which are the two main characteristics of the Meritocracy. Moreover, all students seem to experience recognizable patterns on this subject during their student lives.

The first four quotations reveal Maartje’s experience of what is ‘normal’ regarding her own study performances. Thus, her subjective beliefs on ‘study delay’ are as well prominently visible:

Narrative 5: Maartje In the quotations above, Maartje expresses her vision of ‘missing/failing a course’, which can be decent only if students are doing a board year, or a large committee, because it supports their résumé. According to Maartje, doing many activities valuable for your CV seems to be a trend within the current student population. Therefore, missing or failing a course due to résumé activities could be considered as acceptable in this academic culture. Missing courses without any good reason (good reason: personal development, things that build your CV) will, according to Maartje, be experienced as ‘personal failing’. This personal experience of failure can also be viewed in the quotations below:

Narrative 6: Maartje Cited above, Maartje explains that the opinion of the ‘outside world’ is not important to her unless they have the perception of her failing her study. Then the judgements of other people and fellow peers will change from unimportant to an important matter. Maartje explains that the feeling of ‘wanting to belong to a group that achieves’ weighs heavily to her own experience of success. The ‘of course’ denotes to the ‘wanting to belong’, giving an impression of common sense regarding this matter, which might reveal to be a particular view within the academic culture and are also common themes in a meritocracy. The two quotations below will demonstrate Maartje’s personal ideals and what ‘perfection’ is to her regarding student performances:

Narrative 7: Maartje Clearly, Maartje lives up to a particular image of what counts to her as perfection regarding her subjective study ideals. Thus, the two citations demonstrated below reveal the beliefs of Maartje on what she feels will be expected from her when she graduates.

Narrative 8: Maartje She elaborates on the notion of ‘what has been expected from students’, revealing a certain social pressure from above, the ‘system’ and the ‘employers’. The study ideals Maartje understands as important, is similar to what her beliefs are of what will be expected from her when she graduates.

Narrative 9: Maartje The citation viewed above, demonstrates Maartje’s awareness of a particular pattern within the student population that influences almost every individual in her academic culture. She feels that students imitate each other regarding résumé activities to not ‘fall behind’.

Lena’s narrative also revealed patterns that matched the Meritocracy theory:

Narrative 10: Lena Lena indicates that, in particular, others make remarks about her choice of study. "Yeah, well, luckily I don't do Arts, Culture and Media, so I'm less likely to be unemployed." Why are others making negative remarks? Maybe to feel better about themselves? Lena explained that this is one of the reasons for her to maintain working on her CV building.

Additionally, in Luke’s narrative, patterns of the Meritocracy theory are also highly visible. Thus, he acknowledges the aforementioned beliefs of Maartje regarding ‘wanting to belong to a group that achieves’. The citation demonstrated below illustrates his phrasing on this concern:

Narrative 11: Luke Luke indicates that his grades in the past year were generally worse than those of his classmates. This gives him an unpleasant feeling. Also, because he is coming from HAVO, it sometimes feels to him as if he doesn't belong at the university as much as someone who comes from VWO.

Narrative 12: Luke It's like an annoying feeling, as Luke explained. The sock is a symbol for getting good grades. If he fails his first year, he will experience it as a terrible failure. Nevertheless, even though Luke doesn’t always understand his thoughts about his own ‘urge to perform’, he surely acknowledges that these thoughts have something to do with the current society we live in today:

Narrative 13: Luke

CT3a: Defining social comparing

This section elaborates on the social comparison theory. The notion of social comparison was already visible by all the three students in the previous result sections, showing patterns of correlating and measuring. In this paragraph, the subjective feelings and experiences of social comparing will be further displayed. Below we view how Maartje makes extensive use of it within her narrative:

Narrative 14: Maartje Here you see, at first, to what extent Maartje makes use of social comparison within her discourse. Within the nighty-minutes sample of Maartje, twenty-nine sentences of speech relate to the act of social comparison.

However, a more interesting finding regarding social comparing is found in Lena’s narrative. Lena’s appearance and manner of speaking did not correspond with the exact words used for the comparisons within her narrative. By conducting life-story interviews that took place in the same room, I was able to observe Lena very well. The impressions I got from Lena during the interview were dissimilar from how her narrative, Lena’s exact words, actually came across when you just read them, instead of hearing them from the person being interviewed. As a result, Lena came out very confident during the interview, spoke with assurance and the words used sounded very convincing to me. It is remarkable that while reading her speech focused on social comparisons, she appears rather the contrary.

Narrative 15: Lena Lena’s social comparison patterns demonstrate that life-story interviewing is very valuable to observe differences in bodily presentations and the narratives individuals produce. There seems to be a difference in how Lena performs herself, and how her words display a narrative that appears to be completely contrasting to how she actually speaks in real-life.

At last, Luke is also an active user of social comparisons. He uses it to make himself understood, to demonstrate something, or to illustrate his thoughts. Within his narrative, he compared thirty-eight times within 65 minutes. All the three students confirm the theory of Festinger, elaborating on the fact that individuals use social comparing to understand themselves and ‘their’ world. Below, Luke’s extensive usage of social comparing comes to the fore:

Narrative 16: Luke

Below, Luke speaks about the function of social comparing. He argues that every student is using it as a measure, how well one is doing in life, a statement as well found in Lena’s narrative. Luke and Lena both agree on the fact that social comparisons are very humane and found in every culture:

Narrative 17, 18, 19: Lena & Luke

CT3b: Defining social comparing and the experiences of performance motivation

The previous result section has demonstrated that the theory of social comparison, coined by Festinger, is noticeable within the discourse of Maartje, Lena and Luke. The students make use of it to understand and display their society, the people around them, and themselves. It is therefore interesting to understand whether the participants relate to the act of social comparison in a positive matter, stimulating a sense of performance motivation, or more in a negative matter, stimulating a sense of performance anxiety. As demonstrated in the theoretical framework, both matters can stimulate elements of distress. For this reason, it is interesting to consider in what ways the students make use of comparisons in the digital and competitive world they live in. Therefore, this section outlines the ‘positive’ or ‘motivational’ comparisons, where the participant is stimulated in the experience to feel an urge to succeed and perform in some way. Below, the motivational social comparisons of Maartje have been collected for analysis:

Narrative 20: Maartje

As demonstrated above, Maartje is an advocate of using motivational social comparisons. Her perfectionism, as explained in the distress section, is extremely coming to the fore. Patterns of ‘achieving’ 4x, ‘motivated’ 2x, ‘excelling’ 3x, ‘success’ 4x, and ‘performing’ 2x are very prominent within this narrative section. Combined with these patterns, elements of ‘not wanting to fall behind’ and ‘wanting more’ and ‘stress’ are visible.

Below, Lena’s collection of motivational narrative has been demonstrated. Interestingly, Lena used less motivational comparisons when related to Maartje’s narrative. In the narrative, Lena used motivational comparisons to believe in herself and to reflect on her life and activities to learn and develop herself.

Narrative 21: Lena Below, the motivational comparisons of Luke are made visible. As Luke mentioned within his narrative, he compares himself with others to get motivated and to get recognition for his achievements. Thus, the prominent elements within his narrative are the patterns of ‘Wanting to be the best’ or ‘having success’. For Luke, being good at something is very important for his mental state.

CT3c: Defining social comparing and the experiences of performance anxiety

The previous result section has demonstrated the theory of social comparison, by outlining the ‘positive’ or ‘motivational’ comparisons where the participant was stimulated in the experience to feel an urge to perform. This result section, however, will highlight the more ‘negative’ feelings and experiences of social comparison formulated within the narratives of each participant, but as well the negative experiences that are not directly based upon the visible comparison. This, because negative experiences regarding certain events can come from earlier experiences and comparisons of what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, happened in an earlier stage of life (Festinger, 1954). Thus, the narrative analysis of this section was more flexible, since all the quotations viewed below demonstrate feelings or experiences of personal failure, without the direct link of the comparison made visible within the narratives of each participant. Below, Maartje’s narrative of personal failure is collected for analysis. Patterns of ‘regret’ and ‘failure’ are very prominent. Maartje’s narrative also shows elements of stress and insecurity by feeling ‘not smart enough’ at times, due to various events, which has been experienced as very confrontational. Thus, this confrontation of gives the feeling of ‘losing oneself’.

Narrative 23: Maartje Below, Lena’s narrative of personal failure is collected for analysis. Patterns of feeling ‘not smart enough’ or ‘not good enough’ are very prominent within her narrative, which is very similar to Maartje’s narrative, but Lena experiences these elements to a greater extent.

Narrative 24: Lena Finally, Luke’s narrative of personal failure is collected and viewed below for analysis. Similar to Maartje’s and Lena’s narrative, patterns of ‘not feeling smart enough’ are also visible within Luke’s biographical narrative. Luke made clear that, sometimes, comparing himself with other people gives him a feeling of demotivation, resulting in the experience of performance anxiety.

Narrative 25: Luke

CT4: Defining social media use

In today's society, the media provide more and more information about others to compare ourselves with. The students also recognize this as an element that leads to stress, because they constantly compare themselves with others. As viewed within the three biographical narratives of the three students, social media play a role in the stimulation of stressors by following peers on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn,

where they continuously see what others are doing. This may result in students doubting themselves about their own activities.

Consequently, in this paragraph, the subjective feelings and experiences of social media use will come to the fore. The selection below concerns Maartje’s view on social media and its relation to her academic culture. Maartje’s feelings and experiences concerning social pressure to perform are made obvious within these quotations:

Narrative 26: Maartje In the three citations demonstrated above, Maartje’s understanding of the current academic culture is made apparent. She experiences social media as a tool that stimulates the act of comparison within the student population. Thereby, she describes it as a function to measure the understanding of how well one is ‘doing’ in the competitive atmosphere. The notions of ‘comparing’, ‘performing’ and ‘not wanting to fall behind’ are dominant patterns within Maartje’s data, predominantly in relation to elements regarding her academic culture. In the citation below, Maartje elaborates on her experience with social media use and how she feels the media stimulates the act of social comparison, which as a consequence, frames a certain perfection to live up to:

Narrative 27: Maartje In the citation below, Lena’s understanding of social media is made apparent. She elaborates on her experiences of social media and how she beliefs social media is changing us in ‘addictive achievers’. She also mentions the insecurity of student’s own activities when they view others online. Lena acknowledges that individuals, due to impression management, are hardly sharing their averages and

failures. Instead, online, everything seems perfect. This ladder of perfection, according to Lena, is changing our belief systems on what is viewed as ‘rational’.

Narrative 28: Lena Additionally, Luke also mentions how social media sites put pressure on success and achievements. By following popular social media accounts, individuals can easily ‘taste’ the perfect lives of others, without seeing the disadvantages. Luke agrees this affects him too.

Narrative 29: Luke Finally, Luke elaborates on student stress and how he believes students ‘need’ stress to perform nowadays. Luke considers students to be addicted to stress. As he elaborates, a lot of students around him believe they cannot perform without (extreme levels of) stress. This might have to do with the short concentration arc, which might have to do with the student’s extensive phone use.

Chapter 5. Discussion

As demonstrated in the CT1 findings above, all three students experience to some extent academic distress in different forms. Notably, all students experience stressors originating from their pasts that influence their current student lives to some extent. Moreover, in CT2, all three students elaborate on the presence of a society where performance and success are the common ordinary. This notion is felt by every academic student, according to the biographical narratives. Furthermore, in CT4, all three students’ sense that social media is an amplifier for the culture of its users. For instance, for Maartje this means that her urge for ‘perfection’ can be traced back within her social media posts.

Analyzing the biographical narratives of each student gives us an understanding of how the act of social comparing, CT3, is to some extent linked to the notion of a performance society, which is also apparent in the current academic culture of the students. What’s more, all students elaborate on websites like LinkedIn, a social networking platform, where the achievements of others are visible for observation for anyone, and thus, are stimulating the act of social comparing according to the student’s observations.

Furthermore, the data show that all three students believe that social media stimulate social comparison in individuals. Social media make it also possible to compare yourself with others outside one’s social network, resulting in an expanded area accessible for comparing and measuring. According to the students, social comparing stimulates distress in the context of experiences and feelings regarding performance motivation and performance anxiety. Patterns of upwards and downwards comparisons are made visible in the findings and this commonality differs in every individual narrative. Thus, notable patterns came to the fore: patterns of ‘wanting to belong to a successful group’ and ‘not wanting to fall behind’ occurred often by all students. Likewise, patterns relatable to ‘the perfect image’, ‘perfection’, and ‘performing’ were likely visible. For further research, it would be interesting to see if these patterns are shared by more students in Groningen.

Additionally, the findings show that social comparison theory and the meritocracy are connected. Due to the meritocracy, people are more focused on status, success and performance. When becoming more reliant on status and success, a benchmark/measure is needed to know what status and success are. The three students do that by the act of social comparing. Moreover, since social media made it easier to watch over others’ lives, the students bear to exercise more impression management to show others how ‘perfect’ their life is, since the ‘perfect’ life is equivalent to status and success, according to the students. Thus, social media can function as an amplifier to the societal norms of perfection that has been established by the meritocracy.

Another interesting finding is found in Luke’s narrative, elaborating on the notion that social media may stimulate that individuals believe they need ‘stress’ to function and perform in the academic culture. Luke links social media as the generator of this phenomenon, saying that because of social media, we are constantly experiencing stimulus, stress emotions and stings, which is highly addictive

as previous research have shown (Hanna, 2013 & Yan et al, 2014). Not only are students increasingly using their phones to nurture this addiction, but Luke also suggests that in our daily lives, students now need more incentives to function ‘normally’, to be able to study and learn. This hypothesis can be interesting for further research.