Is Education Ready for A Digital Detox? Are you?

I know it’s too soon. I know we don’t really want to speculate what we did right and wrong during the COVID-19 pandemic. I know though, that if the adults in the room are going to help teenagers recover from the double whammy of isolation and technological saturation, we are going to have to take a hard look at the impact the pandemic had on our kiddos and, quite frankly, on us. Frontiers in Psychology’seditorial, “Reimagining Communication in a Post-Pandemic World: The Intersection of Information, Media Technology, and Psychology,”  explains the situation well: “Such unprecedented reliance on technological mediation and non-human agents for information and communication is akin to a social-psychological experiment on a global scale.” I don’t know about you, but this statement both scares me and challenges me. As an educator who is particularly interested in social emotional learning (SEL) and the mental health of my students, I’m paying close attention to some of the trends that are happening right now. 

Cellphones:         

I’ve written about my approach to cellphones in my classroom and about teaching digital citizenship to our ever connected kiddos. However, I’m paying close attention to some really encouraging news in the margins. I first heard about “cellphone free” and “technology free” events, ironically, while scrolling my phone. It was a short piece on a “meet up” in a park where participants were asked specifically not to bring their technology. I’ve spent way too long looking for that little piece of the metaverse, to no avail. Through my research though, I’ve found some really encouraging news from—and you probably won’t be surprised here—the Netherlands. The concept of a “digital detox” is taking root there, and it is exciting to me; although it’s also a little scary. How will my family know where I am? What if someone needs to get in touch with me? Well, flashback to the good old 1900s, when I was in college. I would simply have told people where I was; and, let’s be honest, how often does anyone really need to get a hold of you that can’t wait? This article from The Guardian shares how The Offline Club organizes events to help people socialize while unplugged. I might feel as if I’d hopped into a time machine, but how would our students, digital natives feel in this same situation? 

Communication:    

I will never forget when we returned from distance learning (which, incidentally, might be one of the most optimistic euphemisms I’ve ever heard), and I was nearing the end of my first class back. I said the following words, which I had said hundreds, if not thousands, of times in my teaching career: “We only have a few minutes left. You can chat amongst yourselves.” I was met with the most excruciating silence I’ve ever felt in a classroom. No one, and I mean no one, said a word. It was so eerie that I didn’t know what to do immediately. Usually, after I say those words, I have to follow that by, “I said you could talk, but you’ve got to lower your voices.” Not that day though. Finally, after a few uncomfortable beats, I started asking students questions, and they responded shyly. A brave soul asked, “Can we go on our phones?” It became clear; they wanted to communicate, but just not without technology. This was something they had lost that many of us had not anticipated, though hindsight makes it clear that this communication situation was going to happen.             

My response to that situation was complicated because I’d always been a proponent of balance, as you can see from this piece in January 2019 called “Why Don’t They Just Talk to Each Other?: Technology vs. IRL Conversations.” I knew the value of technology, and I still do, but there are serious losses that are happening, and if we don’t take some cues from the Netherlands, and even Berlin, we are going to leave a generation stunted. The “Conscious Confidence Berlin,” a German “meet-up” group, is working to bring adults together who are experiencing social anxiety and want to “offline” date:

More and more people are recognizing that social anxiety, cellphones and isolation are all intertwined in a horrible knot. Attendance is a giant problem in schools right now, and we can all see the impact of businesses not able to keep workers. Schools and families want to start a phone-free movement, but even they are skeptical. 

NPR asked the people who might hold the key to what comes next: teens themselves. “Teens Say Social Media Is Stressing Them Out. Here’s How to Help,” outlines some important suggestions, but none better than the LOG OFF Movement, which, according to the website, “was created in June of 2020 by the then high school senior, Emma Lembke. The movement formed in response to Lembke’s personal struggle with social media usage, its negative impact on her mental health, and the absence of youth voices in the dialogue surrounding social media advocacy. Once launched, LOG OFF dedicated itself to uplifting and empowering youth to tackle the complexities of social media and its impact on younger generations.” The more I read about teen-led initiatives, the more I know I want to make something like this happen in my school.