Helping Students Address Problematic Technology Use

Question: How can I help students to overcome social media addiction? Please suggest some strategies to develop a module to reduce social media addiction?

Answer: To best address this question, it might be helpful to first talk about “problematic technology use”.  One way to think about this term is using technology in ways that may have social and physical impacts; for example, prioritizing technology use so much that an adolescent doesn’t interact with friends or family offline, or being on their phone so late into the evening that a teen falls asleep in class.  

While “addiction” terminology is sometimes used to describe problematic technology use and often dominates the headlines around social media, studies have actually shown that it’s not an accurate way to describe teens’ experiences with social media. Research finds instead that when young people experience problematic use of social media, it’s more of a broad range of challenges they experience; addictive behaviors are only at the extreme end of that spectrum.   

It’s also important to recognize that it’s not something wrong with the teen using the platform causing them to feel this way; many interactive technologies are specifically designed to capture and hold a user’s interest. It can be hard for children and teens to overcome those design features. Using language of ‘addiction’ can make it sound like the problem is with the child user, whereas for many children, with support they can learn strategies to overcome that tech design. 

Preventing problematic technology use involves three approaches: balance, boundaries and communication: 

• Balance: Figuring out the right balance between online and offline time is an important topic of discussions for families. There is no evidence for a universal screen time limit that applies to every child. However, families can discuss which approaches might be appropriate to ensure children get adequate sleep, daily physical activity, time for play and reading and discovery, time with people they care about and time to focus on learning without multitasking.  
• Boundaries: Boundaries refers to setting limits around what youth are willing to display about themselves online or on social media, as well as setting limits on where youth spend their time online or when using tech. Discussing guidelines on what types of personal information are not appropriate to post on social media sites with children and teens can help prevent them from several online safety risks. These risks include being targets of bullying, unwanted solicitation or embarrassment. It is also important to talk about spaces to avoid, and what to do if unwanted or inappropriate information comes up when a child is online. 
• Communication: Just as with other core areas of child health, parents and other trusted adults should discuss social media and technology with youth early and often. It is okay to not know the ins and outs of each platform a child uses; an adult’s role is to create a space where the child feels comfortable discussing their concerns and experiences using technology. For parents, establishing home rules for social media and technology use as soon as a child begins using these tools is an important way to promote healthy technology use from the start.  

One approach to share with parents for prevention and intervention to promote healthy technology use is the Family Media Use Plan. The Family Media Plan includes options for rules and guidance around balance and boundaries and can be a tool to promote positive communication.  

Recommended Resources 

Curriculums that Teach Balance, Boundaries, and Healthy Tech Use 

• Common Sense Education has a comprehensive digital citizenship curriculum for each grade level, including middle school and high school: Digital Citizenship Curriculum | Common Sense Education 
  • The Digital Citizenship Curriculum includes a unit on media balance & well-being. For the middle school grades (6-8), this unit emphasizes setting goals around healthy, balanced media use. For the high school grades (9-12), these units emphasize emotional and physical health effects of digital media use. The 11th grade unit specifically is called Can Media Be Addictive? and focuses on design features of social media platforms that can make it hard to stop using those platforms. 
  • The Digital Citizenship Curriculum includes lesson plans, student hand-outs, interactive activities, videos, games, and a chart illustrating how the curriculum fits within Common Core standards. Common Sense suggests 5 instructional models for how this curriculum can be taught in schools.  
  • Educators can delve deeper into the Digital Citizenship curriculum by participating in a one-hour training that is offered by Common Sense Media  
• Media Power Youth has a curriculum called Screenshots, which is a media literacy curriculum for grades 6-8.
  • This curriculum includes lesson plans, podcasts, a project, and an interactive notebook and focuses on thinking critically about social media messages, managing online conflict, exploring how digital media relates to substance use, and practicing empathy when navigating online challenges.   
• Teens & Tech has a free evidence-based curriculum developed by the Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development for middle school educators on how adolescent brain development affects technology use and well-being.  

Tools that Help with Communication around Tech 

• Guiding Students to Develop a Clear Understanding of Their Cell Phone Use written by Christopher Klein in Edutopia outlines guidelines for teachers to take when it comes to creating a positive environment in their classroom regarding student cell phone use. Suggestions include co-creating cell phone free spaces with students through community agreements, educating students about the effects of cell phone use on learning in classes, engaging in schoolwide information campaigns, developing realistic classroom-based strategies that match your teaching style, and using cell phones in your lesson planning. These guidelines understand that today’s generation is enmeshed in technology and that educators must evolve instead of implementing a total ban on cell phones.  
• A report by ATLIS and CoSN (Consortium for School Network) regarding A Guide for Creating Effective Responsible Use Policies provides guidance and outlines how technology use policies should be curated. A high-quality Responsible Use Policies (RUP) outlines student behaviors that lead to a healthy digital culture at school and home. An effective RUP should guide students in how to be successful, effective digital citizens and should be written at a level of understanding for children.  
  • According to ATLIS, there are three tenets for an effective RUP: 
    • Keeping it positive (not a list of don’ts, make it about the do’s with technology) 
    • Writing in plain English (this is not a legal document, keep language conversational and friendly), and  
    • Involving students (allow students to make suggestions and ask questions).

Age: 10-17, early adolescence, middle adolescence 

Topics: Problematic technology use, screening, adolescents 

Role: Educator/teacher