It’s Time for Schools to Teach Social Media Literacy
TikTok’s chief executive has agreed to testify before Congress in March about the app’s dangers, including its effects on minors. But more evidence of social media’s negative effects won’t help kids facing these negative effects in the short term. We need to prepare young people for the challenges of social media before they go online — and we should start in schools.
Kids are entering the social media world at a younger age than ever. Data from the Cleveland Clinic show half of children ages 10-12 are now on social media, in spite of the fact that parents and social scientists agree social media is not good for young kids. Amid high-profile lawsuits and rising rates of teenage suicide and depression, the addictive power of social media and TikTok-style short-form content is well-known — especially the risks it poses in causing or worsening youth depression, anxiety, and self-harm. We need to disseminate this information where it can have a real impact on children’s lives and habits.
As schools move to incorporate digital literacy into their curricula — teaching skills such as online research methods, word processing, and coding — they should also aim to equip students with the knowledge and tools to develop healthy habits online and the skills to avoid social media’s dangerous side effects.
Such a curriculum could start by reframing students’ understanding of social media. Social media giants profit off of eyeballs and clicks, and they aim to prolong the time spent on their sites to maximize ad revenue. To do so, they incorporate highly advanced algorithms that track user data and present users with content most likely to prolong their stay on the app. This feedback loop can be vicious: a recent study showed that TikTok users who had previously engaged with self-harm and suicide content were 12 times more likely to be shown similar content again. Students must be made aware of how social media algorithms can capitalize on their vulnerabilities.
Social media can have a drug-like effect. Wisconsin congressman Mike Gallagher is right to call TikTok “digital fentanyl.” Social media sites are addictive by design. As with a physical drug, usage of the app can release small surges of dopamine that trigger the brain’s reward center, resulting in a small high that makes the user want to repeat the action again and again.
This addictive effect is especially powerful on teens. “The overuse of social media can actually rewire a young child or teen’s brain to constantly seek out immediate gratification, leading to obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviors,” writes Dr. Nancy Deangelis, Director of Behavioral Health at Jefferson Health, Philadelphia. Recent evidence shows that these damages could be permanent: a study from JAMA Pediatrics observed increased neural sensitivity in parts of middle school users’ brains, making them more sensitive to social consequences throughout life.
Schools need to teach students how to mitigate these negative effects, as well as how to curb their social media overuse when it happens. Kids aged 11-14 average 9 hours of screen time a day, and 52% of teens ages 15-17 say that they use the Internet almost constantly. Many teens are aware that they spend too much time online but feel helpless to change it.
While educators are not likely to turn kids away from social media use altogether, students can learn and practice certain strategies before addictive patterns arise, such as screen-time limitations, social media “cleanses” (taking a break from usage), or even use of a black-and-white iPhone screen setting. Just as the teens of the 1980s and 1990s were warned to “say no to drugs” or to “stand up against bullying,” students of Gen-Z could become the generation of “unplug and unwind.”
States can incorporate such lessons into their educational curricula relatively easily, either through legislation or through policy changes at the department of education. In any case, educators needn’t wait for their state governments to act. Teachers concerned about the mental health crisis among young people can begin these conversations in the classroom now — initiating group discussions about social media and offering tips for safer use.
We have overwhelming evidence of social media’s dangerous effects. By leaving youth to navigate it on their own, we subject them to substantial harm. Given the knowledge we’ve acquired of social media’s pitfalls, it’s our duty to inform and guide young people’s use before it causes permanent cognitive and behavioral damage.
