parent & teacher guide
Many of us have a teenager in our lives whose social media use drives us crazy. Not too long ago, I was that teenager. Although social media in 2016 wasn’t as sophisticated as it is now, I'm sure I still tested my parents' patience. Eventually, I went on to study Digital Media and Interaction Design at Edinburgh Napier University, where I took my first Human-Computer Interaction class. That was when everything started to make sense.
While doing some extra reading for the class (I love extra reading), I encountered the concept of "habit-forming products" and the Hook Cycle. At that time, I was 19, and my 13-year-old brother was just beginning to explore social media. I noticed how he interacted with his devices and began to compare his reactions to the concepts I had learned about. I became increasingly frustrated as I observed my parents struggling to understand his behavior when they tried to enforce screen time rules, even though the explanations were right there in my textbooks.
This frustration became the foundation of my Honours Project, which I completed in my final year of university. My project explored the effectiveness of a digitally-enabled, teacher-led program on social media design aimed at fostering "social media literacy" among teens, empowering them to take control of their social media experiences. The program was designed for implementation in school classrooms, with the goal of democratizing knowledge. Given how the digital divide significantly affects our social media experiences, it was essential to ensure the program was accessible to all teenagers to prevent widening this divide.
What does the research say?
Mental Health Impact
The correlation between social media use and adverse mental health outcomes is less strong, and a lot more complicated than often portrayed in media.
"Screen time" proves an inadequate metric for assessing device impact, given its diverse range of activities.
Redefining the Relationship with Devices
The concept of "phone addiction" is being reevaluated"attachment" is considered a more accurate description.
Social media features can both positively and negatively affect teenagers - depending on the teenager and the feature.
Complete restriction of social media may potentially hinder social development.
The Digital Divide
Lower-income teenagers spend approximately two additional hours on devices daily compared to their higher-income peers.
A strong correlation exists between parental income and awareness of social media's algorithmic functions. This can impact people's ability to effect political change using social media.
What did I find?
I conducted open-ended, semi-structured interviews with three headteachers as part of my honours project. The following were recurring points:
Social media platforms focus on negative feedback and inadequately monitor harmful content.
There's a lack of framework for digital literacy education. Young people are less proficient in applications like the Office suite. Academic research supports this, suggesting alarmingly low digital proficiency in traditional skills such as email, spreadsheets, and word processing.
Pupils don't respond to feedback on their social media use because they believe they know more than adults. The concept of "digital natives" is prominent yet inaccurate. There's no evidence that growing up with technology changes its impact or people's ability to use it beneficially.
Both home and school environments affect digital literacy significantly since the pandemic has increased students' use of personal technology. Secondary research supports this, highlighting the difficulty in controlling COVID-19's impact to properly examine potential interventions that encourage the beneficial use of social media.
This lead me to the conclusion that social media can intensify existing social problems - such as anxiety, self-worth issues, attention span difficulties, and pupil fallouts. This is backed up by research that suggests that social media amplifies teens' fitness habits—those interested in sports and exercise benefit from related online content, while others typically don't engage.
The key takeaway is that online habits start offline. My observations suggest this extends to unhealthy coping mechanisms, too. Teens prone to self-isolation when troubled find further enablement through social media. Similarly, those inclined to bully others when upset find additional avenues online. This amplification effect could explain the vagueness in much research about social media's impacts. If it's an amplification tool, its effects can vary widely from person to person.
How can Social Media Literacy help?
Traditional media literacy focuses on skills like identifying credible news sources. However, "social media literacy" goes beyond this, addressing the unique challenges posed by modern digital platforms. This expanded concept includes understanding persuasive design techniques used in social media, which can impact user autonomy.
Social media literacy is particularly important for teenagers, whose online experiences are shaped by their diverse backgrounds and environments. By demystifying the elements of persuasive design and translating complex concepts into relatable language, we can equip teens with tools to make informed choices online.
