Last Friday, MS admin and counselors hosted a parent discussion group around the Netflix documentary, “The Social Dilemma.” We looked at society’s ever growing use and dependence on social media and in particular the mental health implications of this development.
We recommend our parent community to watch this film and think it’s particularly useful to watch it with your children. It’s useful for us all to understand the intentions of the technology and how the artificial intelligence (AI) works to keep us viewing, scrolling, and clicking. Social media has of course served us in many positive ways, connecting us with friends and family, keeping us informed, and improving our lives in many ways. However, there are also impacts on our social skills, attention, and time spent with loved ones or in nature.
One of the big takeaways and recommendations for both young people and adults was to take more control of our device viewing habits, starting with knowing more about our own use. Instead of letting the media call to us and dictate our attention, we can create an environment in which we use social media on our own terms, once we understand how we use our phones and how notifications grab our attention unnecessarily (my computer literally just chimed as I was typing this!).
At the session, I demonstrated how we can look at our screentime data and understand how notifications and pick-ups might be connected for us. HS Dean of Students, Andy Vaughan, shared this video taking you through how you can view and change these settings. Parents and students alike should shut off notifications other than for necessary reminders, remove those pesky badge numbers that compel us to open apps to clear the number, and take control of when you access the apps, instead of letting your phone tell you when you should look.
These are important conversations to be having with your children. View and share your screentime and app use with each other and discuss what might be healthier and more positive for each of you. Students will appreciate understanding how you feel about this tech and you will like knowing that your child is taking more control over how their phone is used.