I was tagged in an opinion piece in the Washington Examiner by my pal, Dean Vendramin called, Changing the Screen-time debate by Sarah M. Coyne.
Great article reminds me of the great work @JCasaTodd is sharing #SocialLEADia
— Dean Vendramin (@vendi55) January 18, 2020
The post highlights some of the talking points and research I have been doing over the past several years. What I really liked about the post in particular is the way the author takes the example of two young people who use social media differently and outlines how it impacts them differently. These two hypothetical teens are characterized in the following way:
Why it matters
According to the post,
Research suggests that active use of social media is actually productive for mental health, decreasing mental illness symptoms by 15%. In contrast, passive use increases depressive symptoms by 33%.
Check out the entire post here.
This is similar to research by Common Sense Media which found that “Across every measure in our survey, teens are more likely to say that social media has a positive rather than a negative effect on how they feel” (page 3).
For ideas about what purposeful and active use of social media look like, you can check out my book, Social LEADia. If you are looking for parenting guidelines, look for Raising Digital Leaders coming in late Spring.
In the meantime, reflect on whether or not your social media behaviours are more like Emma or Olivia. How does social media make you feel? What are some of the classroom conversations you have around mental health and social media behaviours?