Students Are Feeling Burned Out. Here’s How You Can Help

School doesn’t have to be a “grind” for teens. But a new report explores the pressures many teens face in their academic lives, how it impacts their education and mental health, and the role parents and adults play in applying and limiting that pressure.  

The report, Unpacking Grind Culture in American Teens: Pressure, Burnout, and the Role of Social Media, was co-authored by the Center for Digital Thriving, one of the Ed School’s emerging research and innovation labs housed at Project Zero. Written in partnership with Common Sense Media and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University, the study asked 1,545 teens ages 13–17 about the specific pressures they face, and how people and technology impact those pressures for better and, often, worse.

While the role social media plays in amplifying anxiety, bullying, and other worrying trends often makes considerable headlines, the report does not blame social media alone for the rise of burnout culture among teens. The pressure to “grind” your way to academic success, for example, comes from a number of different sources in a student’s life based on many social and economic circumstances.

“Ultimately, the data reinforces that social media warrants attention and intervention, but also that pressures teens feel have many roots — not social media alone,” the report states. “Truly addressing grind culture and burnout for teens will almost certainly require us to recognize social media as one important piece of a larger puzzle.”

Six Pressures Teens Face

A majority of those surveyed (81%) reported feeling negative pressure in at least one of the six different categories noted by researchers. More than half (52%) said they experience negative pressure in three or more of the following categories:

• Game Plan: 56% of American teens feel pressure to have their future life path figured out (e.g., college, career, relationships).
• Achievement: 53% of teens feel pressure to be exceptional and impressive through their achievements (e.g., honors classes, good grades, jobs).
• Appearance: 51% of teens feel pressure to look their best or present themselves in a certain way (e.g., following trends, having a certain body type).
• Social Life: 44% feel pressure related to having an active and visible social life (e.g., hanging out with friends, going to social events).
• Friendship: 41% feel pressure to stay available and be supportive to friends (e.g., responding to texts and social media from friends right away).
• Activism: 32% feel pressure to do good for their community or the world, or to be informed about different issues (e.g., supporting or giving money to causes, keeping up with the news).

The report notes that girls, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ teens reported more pressure in every category when compared to cisgender boys surveyed. Notably, more than a quarter (27%) of teens surveyed reported struggling with burnout, a problem more commonly associated with adults in professional settings in the past.

Pressure From Different Places, Starting with Adults

Teens reported feeling pressure about different things in different places. “Significant” pressure comes from adults – many of whom have their own issues with pressure, the report notes – but also from their own “internal feelings and standards.” Teens reported themselves as a considerable source of pressure they feel about appearance, for example, while parents, guidance counselors, educators, and coaches play a large part in pressures regarding game plan and achievement. The report notes that young people from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and with parents who have higher educational attainment reported more pressure in game plan, achievement, and appearance, as well.

Social Media Hurts, And Helps. It’s Complicated

The report notes that, while teens are more likely to say social media consistently increases pressures on them, not all social media and its impact on pressure categories was equal. For example, 48% of teens who felt appearance pressure said social media made that pressure worse. But 7% said social media decreased that pressure, and 31% said the influence is a mix of both.

Pressures such as achievement, game plan, and friendship, meanwhile, were much less impacted by social media compared to their own feelings, parents and family members, or other adults from school. And not all aspects of a teen’s digital life were reported as entirely negative. While gaming often takes place online and can contain aspects of social media networks, 80% of teens reported playing social games and one in four said gaming is an important stress release valve for them.

Self-Care Is Key, But A Missing One

Gaming is just one way teens reported engaging in self-care. The report noted teens who reported practicing self-cafe experienced lower burnout rates, though most surveyed did not practice self-care consistently. The report included alarming numbers about basic self-care practices:

• Nearly half of teens (45%) fell short of getting even seven hours of sleep on most nights during the prior week.
• The majority (60%) did not meet the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation for one hour of daily exercise.
• Nearly one in five teens did not have a single "deep and meaningful" conversation with a friend in the past week.
• Nearly one in six had no time outdoors or in nature.

How Adults Can Help

Nearly one in five teens surveyed did not report any negative pressures in their lives, and from those participants the study identified a number of practices that can help teens limit the feeling of burnout. That includes getting more sleep, spending time outdoors or in nature, and having a more open schedule with more free time and fewer scheduled activities. Using the internet less frequently can also help avoid negative pressures from social media. Lowering pressure, the report noted, could make room for healthy habits in students that continue to create a positive impact on their mental health and, ultimately, educational outcomes.

Teens in the study’s advisory sessions mentioned a number of ways adults can help as well, including aiding students’ decisions that could prevent overload, and recognizing a teen’s effort is different than the outcome of that effort. They can also share a teen’s joys and interests, empathize rather than minimize when a teen talks about their stresses, and even show curiosity about their social media experiences.