Social Media and Youth Mental Health Resources for Educators

Question: I’ve noticed more elementary school kids have smartwatches recently, and they are getting notifications in the middle of the school day, often messages from their parents. What can we do to reduce these distractions? We would prefer the families contact their children the “old fashioned” way, by calling the main office, if there is an urgent issue.”

Answer: It is estimated that 18% of teens (ages 13-17) and 7% of children (ages 6-12) in the United States own a smart watch. Read the rest of this answer here. 

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”. Read the rest of this answer here. 

Question: We are looking for any research on the impact of cell phone use policies, or lack of policies, in middle and high schools. We have heard that a policy of no phones during instruction time improves learning.

Answer: Overall, most of the research on cell phones in schools examines the impact of phone use on student behavior, rather than evaluation of whether cell phone policies are successful at improving learning. Read the rest of this answer here.