College Students on the Pressure to Seem Happy -- The Cut

College Students on the Pressure to Seem Happy -- The Cut







College students are under so much pressure to appear perfect
that different schools have developed their own names for the
phenomenon. At the University of Pennsylvania, it’s known as Penn Face,
as in the face you put on when you want your friends and classmates to
think you have your life together. At Stanford it’s called the Duck
Syndrome, because ducks hide their desperately paddling feet under the
water when they swim.


This week, the New York Times ran a story
about Kathryn DeWitt, a Penn student and former track star who nearly
attempted suicide because she was so overwhelmed with the pressure to
keep up appearances. Another Penn student, Madison Holleran, killed
herself last year shortly after posting a cheerful photo on Instagram.
Cornell’s director of counseling told the paper that he believes social
media exacerbates the problem, since students feel compelled to post
smiling selfies even when they’re struggling.


We asked seven college students and recent
graduates to give us their own examples of a time when their seemingly
perfect Instagram accounts belied what was really happening in their
lives. Read their stories below.