It was very interesting to learn more last week from our guest speaker about implementing technology in the classroom. One aspect I found interesting was when he discussed social media and mental health, saying that his daughter comes home and talks openly about mental health while in his generation it was a topic shrouded in shame and secrecy.
I agree that social media has been instrumental in opening up a worldwide discussion about mental health and destigmatizing it. There are many accounts on Instagram, for example, that discuss body positivity, depression, and even more severe mental health disorders such as bipolar. I’ve even seen clinical counsellor run accounts that provide free mental health management tips, which may be of great benefit to followers without the resources to access therapy and other mental health resources.
However, I was also reminded of an opinion piece in The New York Times which I read as part of the assigned reading for my Social Studies seminar. Written by psychologists, it discusses their research as well as other studies done which demonstrate that teen loneliness has risen sharply worldwide. In 2000, the percentage of teens saying they were lonely was just over 10%. It has climbed globally, and in English speaking countries it is now close to 40%. They suggest that one of the main cultural factors that came into play at this time was ubiquitous use of smartphones and social media.
One of the suggestions the authors give is providing “kids [with] a long period each day when they are not distracted by their devices: the school day. Phones may be useful for getting to and from school, but they should be locked up during the school day so students can practice the lost art of paying full attention to the people around them — including their teachers” (Haidt & Twenge, 2021). This fits with some of the teaching practices that I have observed while on my school visits at Claremont. One of the teachers told me that he was at first excited by the dawn of smartphones and tried to incorporate them into his class, but he soon discovered that they served only as a distraction and any educational activities on the internet could be done on Chromebooks. Now he doesn’t allow any phone use in his classroom. I tend more towards this perspective than to the idea that we must integrate phones into classes because of their ubiquity.
I think striking a balance is key. It’s important to recognize the important beneficial effects that social media can have on kids in giving them access to community. However, we also must take heed of the detrimental mental health effects of social media, and consequently be very thoughtful and careful in how we use it in the classroom. Our kids’ happiness depend on it.
Reference
Haidt, J., & Twenge, J. (31 July, 2021). This Is Our Chance to Pull Teenagers Out of the Smartphone Trap. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/opinion/smartphone-iphone-social-media-isolation.html
