Childhood Social Media Use: Moderation Is, As Always, Key

The key takeaway from this week’s debate, for me, is that everything is okay in moderation. Social media is a fantastic tool for so many reasons. Most specifically, for creating connections in ways that never used to be possible. The negatives may currently seem to be outweighing the positive aspects, but this is an opportunity for some teachable moments about finding a balance between virtual reality and regular reality.

Social media may not be “ruining” childhood, but things will never be like the “good old days” again. My only thought is that of course, we can’t completely ban social media, however we as adults and educators need to help our children find a balance between their real and their virtual identities. The theme of identity comes up in the middle years curriculums, and more so now than ever, has the idea of an online presence been a factor in thinking about identity.  Our job is to include and foster that aspect of their lives, but to continue to encourage making face to face connections, and developing speaking and language skills as well.

My generation is the last to have known life both pre social media and post. I grew up in the 1990s where things definitely seemed simpler, people were more connected, and our world seemed safer in general.

We used to play outdoors all evening, with our only guidance being: “Make sure you’re home by the time the streetlamps came on.”

Now, the internet and social media makes the sharing of information so much easier and rapid, that instances of crime or predators in your neighborhood are much more widely known. This is a benefit, of course, however growing up without the ever looming thought of doom was kind of nice,

I suppose: ignorance can be bliss.

At family gatherings, we would visit, learn cribbage, help in the kitchen, and play. There wasn’t a piece of technology in sight, except maybe a movie on in the background on The Wonderful World of Disney on CBC or a Blue Jays game. Now, I watch my younger cousins be glued to their Nintendo Switches or making TikTok dances instead of just being present.

At school, we’d explore the playground. Or we’d just sit and talk on the baseball bleachers. We would play kickball and grounders at recess, or tetherball, or skip rope. Now, my middle years students generally spend their recesses scrolling their apps, huddled in a corner.

We’d stare out the window on road trips with nothing but the flat Saskatchewan terrain to look at for 4 hours straight (and the odd cow)…On second thought, maybe it would have been nice to have some apps to scroll instead of that particular example.

Otherwise, I can say I wholeheartedly enjoyed growing up in an era sans social media. In the spirit of remaining remain positive, I do believe that the height of social media may have recently peaked, and that we are now beginning to witness apps have time restrictions, and support for social media addictions. Hopefully, we have learned from watching the height of social media’s evil side and we can now educate our children and students to both use it in a positive way, and to limit our use. This will hopefully, in turn, lead to a more balanced approach and functional society.

An article I found while doing some research for this topic offers a perspective from a former high-up employee of Facebook:

“Speaking at a recent event at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chamath Palihapitiya – a former vice president for user growth at Facebook – expressed a concern that social media platforms have become “tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops we’ve created are destroying how society works,” said Palihapitiya, according to a report from The Verge. Interactions such as ‘liking’ a photograph or ‘favoriting’ a tweet are perhaps more about short-term gratification than the basis for meaningful communication and relationships, Palihapitiya suggested.”

It really says something if the VP of user growth at Facebook’s opinion is this, or that the CEO of Tiktok doesn’t let his kids use the app at all:

https://www.parentherald.com/articles/109446/20230126/tiktok-ceo-admits-allowing-children-use-app.htm

After watching Eva Amin’s Ted Talk Social Media isn’t bad: you’re just using it wrong  my thoughts about limiting use and finding a balance were further exemplified. I agree with her argument that social media itself is not the problem, and can be used to “support personal fulfillment and professional success – if used judiciously.” I thought her guidelines and the way the she outlined how it can be a helpful, and even inspiring, tool were a very positive take on this matter. She spoke about following people that inspire you, challenge you to be a better person , or to follow accounts that make you happy. I am all for this, and that is why my social media timelines are full of puppies and recipes

So, let’s all encourage each other and our students to get outside a little more, connect face to face a little more; but also that a little bit of mindful scrolling and connecting virtually is okay, too.

Balance is key!