When reading Mike Ribble’s Nine Themes of Digital Citizenship, #6 really spoke to me. I think part of the reason it spoke to me is that I see how attached our youth are to their cell phones and other electronic devices. It is as if they are lost if they do not have it with them, and some seem to struggle even to function.
Youth seem to communicate only through these devices and have a difficult time holding a real conversation with another person. I know that in my household I become frustrated as I am seeing the disconnect between my teenage son and the family. He wants his independence but is physically disconnected and becomes upset when you ask for his phone to be put away or for him to hold a conversation.
This links back to my last post about mental health. I feel that with students living in this digital world and not interacting socially with their peers in a meaningful way that society is adding to the mental health of our students and how they ‘buy’ into everything that they see on their screens.
Common Sense Media has developed some guides in which to help navigate this topic. This article helps parents have some of the tough questions about technology use with their children answered.
Common Sense Media also has sites for educators. Digital Well-Being Lessons for Grade K-12 there are a number of lessons to help teach students how to socialize in a meaningful way, how to disconnect from technology, developing positive tech habits and so many more. They are broken into elementary, middle and high school. The lessons are easy to follow and even have a little video to share with the students. They would be easy enough to send parts home to share with the families.
Students need to be educated on how to have a balanced life and now with the addition of technology so easily at their disposal we need to teach them how to have a balance with this as well. Everyone needs human contact and we need to teach our children how to find a balance between screen time and other activities.
How do you do this in your household? Are their suggestions you have that have been useful or ones that didn’t work at all?