The Impact of Procrastination, Social Media Use and Coping Strategies on the Psychological Well-Being of Young Adults

Abstract

This paper examines the interrelated influence of procrastination, social media use and coping strategies on the psychological well-being of young adults, a life stage marked by identity formation, academic and career transitions and near-constant digital connectivity. Drawing on secondary data published in peer-reviewed journals, government reports and large-scale surveys between 2018 and 2025, the study synthesizes evidence on how habitual task-postponement and problematic digital engagement jointly erode subjective and psychological well-being, while adaptive coping strategies such as problem-focused coping, mindfulness and structured digital disengagement act as protective buffers.

Reported prevalence figures indicate that a substantial proportion of young adults experience clinically meaningful depressive and anxiety symptoms and problematic social media use shows small-to-moderate but consistent correlations with depression, anxiety and stress across multiple meta-analyses. Procrastination is treated not merely as a time-management failure but as a short-term mood-repair strategy that is reinforced by digital distraction and, in turn, undermines long-term well-being. Four data tables synthesize secondary evidence on symptom prevalence, social-media–mental-health associations, problematic-use correlations and coping and digital-detox intervention outcomes.

The findings point to a cyclical relationship in which stress and diminished well-being drive escalated social media use and procrastination, which are then managed—more or less successfully—through coping mechanisms that shape the ultimate well-being trajectory of young adults. The paper concludes with recommendations for digital literacy programs, structured coping-skills training and campus-based mental health interventions tailored to the developmental stage of emerging adulthood.