By this point, most people are aware that there’s a crisis in teen mental health. It’s often assumed that the crisis is due to young people’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic – or at least that the pandemic made these trends significantly worse
These trends also align with the introduction of the 1:1 initiative in 2012 and the decline in student tests scores that are continuing to drop today. Around 2012, schools began to transition to a more screen based education and the push for more edtech use in schools took off along with the profits of big tech. As an educator that focuses on supporting social skill development, students today are lacking the opportunity to develop their interpersonal skills, critical thinking skills and social self regulation. Add social media to the mix and the results are not good. We need to take a much more critical lens to all the edtech in schools and significantly reduce the amount of screen time during the school day while getting back to the basics with books, paper and pencils. The harms of social media go hand in hand with the overuse of edtech in schools.
These trends also align with the introduction of the 1:1 initiative in 2012 and the decline in student tests scores that are continuing to drop today. Around 2012, schools began to transition to a more screen based education and the push for more edtech use in schools took off along with the profits of big tech. As an educator that focuses on supporting social skill development, students today are lacking the opportunity to develop their interpersonal skills, critical thinking skills and social self regulation. Add social media to the mix and the results are not good. We need to take a much more critical lens to all the edtech in schools and significantly reduce the amount of screen time during the school day while getting back to the basics with books, paper and pencils. The harms of social media go hand in hand with the overuse of edtech in schools.