In public bathrooms across campus, students can find “The Stall Street Journal.” It’s a series of posters produced by the Student Wellness Center offering students advice and help on a variety of topics. This term, they posted a new issue called “Doomscrolling Detox.” There are a couple of different designs, but they all convey the same message: that news and social media can be overwhelming, and it’s essential to consider your feelings and take precautions to avoid getting overwhelmed while scrolling through social media.
I know the message of this poster has good intentions. But to me, this issue of “The Stall Street Journal” falls flat. The solutions it offers to being overwhelmed by the news and social media include taking deep breaths between scrolling social media and pausing to “check in with your feeling and body cues without judgement” in the middle of a scrolling session. These solutions are representative of a larger, more problematic wellness culture that exists at Dartmouth — one of performative solutions to far more systemic issues.
To me, the solution to the problem presented in “The Stall Street Journal” is relatively simple. If you are having physical symptoms of anxiety while using a social media site, you should delete said social media site, point-blank. No application on your phone should cause you physical stress, and if it does, there is no reason for it to be on your phone. We are in the midst of an unprecedented mental health crisis among teens and adolescents. In 2023, 40% of high schoolers reported experiencing symptoms of depression. There have been clear studies indicating that social media can contribute directly to mental health struggles, including contributing to low self-esteem, body image issues and a host of other struggles.
If you are overwhelmed by social media, delete it. In fact, even if you aren’t overwhelmed by social media, you probably should delete or dramatically limit use of it anyway. Introducing breathing exercises and body awareness to address a problem created by an optional service seems absurd.
“The Stall Street Journal” is symptomatic of a much larger problem with Dartmouth wellness culture which is represented in the programming of the Student Wellness Center, the Dartmouth Student Government and the activities of students as a whole. These campus organizations define wellness as free water bottles, massage chairs and petting a dog.
Greek life offers similarly simple solutions to profound struggles. Stressed? Have a drink. Sad? Play beer pong. Anxious? Enjoy a night of bacchanalian revelry. Greek spaces give students a space to decompress after stressful periods, often in irresponsible ways. Both of these solutions are often inadequate.
It makes sense that this idea of wellness would take hold at a place like Dartmouth, because sometimes it seems like sitting in a massage chair for ten minutes is all you have time for and playing endless beer pong on a Friday night is the best way to unwind. This is reflected in something as simple as the design of the Wellness Center: its placement in the back of the library means that most students use its facilities as a break from long hours spent studying, and not as a legitimate separate space dedicated towards mental health. The breakneck pace of Dartmouth means that we all have to be okay all the time, or risk falling behind in everything that we do. This is also true of physical health, where missing a couple of days due to illness can mean spending weeks feeling behind on work.
Dartmouth’s rigor and pace is also part of its appeal, and there is little room to change standards and timelines while maintaining such a high standard of education. However, I believe our institution should consider refining its message on wellness. We must acknowledge that sometimes, a deep breath or a walk in the park won’t be enough to resolve one’s anxiety or depression. Sometimes, someone might have to fully step back to get better.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
Eli Moyse ’27 is an opinion editor and columnist for The Dartmouth. He studies government and creative writing. He publishes various personal work under a pen name on Substack (https://substack.com/@wesmercer), and you can find his other work in various publications.
