That may be because the medical community also doesn’t have a full grasp on just how social media affects the health of students, researchers contend in a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

“Research shows social media has the potential to both harm and benefit adolescent health,” the report says. “For example, algorithms that generate content recommendations can provide young people with important health information or expose them to unscientific treatments.”

The “direction” of the relationship between social media and adolescent health is also murky because social media may influence health but health may also influence how young people use social media. “There is also much to be learned about how specific platform features—such as “likes” or the endless scroll format of some platforms—may affect adolescent health,” the report posits. For these reasons … a more judicious approach is warranted rather than a broad-stroke ban, and does not make recommendations for specific limitations on teens’ access to social media.”

What is clear is that attractive design can keep kids attached to their phones even when they want to disengage. Compounding the risk is that adolescents, compared to adults, have a harder time regulating emotions, are more sensitive to rewards and are meant to seek out independence and explore new identities, the National Academies adds.

Social media health solutions

District leaders should continue to emphasize media literacy and provide teachers with adequate professional development in the subject one superintendent recently told District Administration was among the most important schools could teach. The report also encouraged district educators to advocate for states to set media literacy curriculum standards, particularly in digital media to make students more sophisticated and discerning users of social media.

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Educators should counsel students to use social media for social support and to avoid content that depicts illegal or risky behavior, such as self-harm, harm to others, hate speech and eating disorders. Adolescents should also be routinely screened for signs of “problematic social media use” that interferes with their ability to engage in schoolwork and other daily routines.

Educators can also encourage parents and caregivers to set guardrails by creating a family media use plan that:

• Addresses what type of and how much media is used and what media behaviors are appropriate for each child and for parents.
• Places limits on the hours per day each media platform is used.
• Promotes children and adolescents getting at least one hour of physical activity each day and at least eight hours of sleep.
• Prohibits children from sleeping with devices, including TVs, computers and smartphones.
• Designates media-free family times (such as dinner) and media-free locations (such as bedrooms).
• Ensures parents view media with children so the latter learn to use platforms creatively and collaboratively.
• Use media to learn and be creative, and share these experiences with your family and your
  community

Parents should also form a network of trusted adults—such as aunts, uncles, grandparents and coaches—who can interact productively with children on social media and help them when they encounter challenges or suspicious behavior.

Outside of schools, the report called upon the International Organization for Standardization, a tech industry watchdog, to set standards for social media platform design, transparency and data use. Social media companies themselves should develop more robust systems for reporting and rooting out online harassment of minors, from cyberbullying to sexual exploitation.

The post How to help families overcome social media health problems appeared first on District Administration.

That morning, Bedell, who is now superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland, had been cut off by another driver on his commute and was given the middle finger when he honked his horn. After issuing a reprimand, it took him a moment to realize that he was probably taking his frustration out on the student and may also have succumbed to implicit bias.

It turned out the student was then experiencing homelessness, and to this day, the exchange illuminates the distress that educators are sometimes causing students, albeit inadvertently, Bedell explains.

“The kid put his hand on my shoulder, he was crying and he said, ‘Mr. Bedell, you don’t even know me. I don’t get in trouble, I come to school every day, and you’re riding me over my pants … I’m trying to do my best and you’re getting ready to put me right back out on the streets I’m trying to escape,'” recalls Bedell, who was recently named Superintendent of the Year by the National Alliance of Black School Educators.

“It floored me,” he adds. “It floored me.”

Connecting on a human level was the main reason Bedell took an extensive listening tour when he arrived in Anne Arundel County in July 2022 after spending six years as superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools in Missouri. He learned that parents and families wanted the district to transition to the science of reading and revamp the math curriculum and he heard concerns about staffing shortages.

He offers this advice to other incoming superintendents who would go on their own listening tours. “No. 1, be vulnerable—let people know who you really are,” he asserts. “People see superintendents as these robots and I’ve always felt like when I go out and I may crack a joke, I’ve seen teachers say ‘Oh he’s human. Oh, he has a personality.'”

That vulnerability—along with a recounting of his life story—provides credibility to engage in more difficult conversations about systemic problems in public K12 education. “I let people know I’m not perfect, I’ve made mistakes,” he explains. “I let parents know I’m here to make sure your kids are going to be able to prosper and they’re going to learn in a barrier-free environment, and there are some things we have done as adults to harm children that we can no longer allow to happen.”

For Bedell, that harm has been caused by implicit bias, which is why he will lay out the data when he meets with parents and plot out how the district is innovating in a more equitable and transparent direction. “We have assumptions and we have these expectations and we don’t know these kids and we harm them,” says Bedell, who also experienced homelessness as a child.

“I don’t want to be a superintendent who puts any further harm on these kids because of decisions we’ve made that create inequitable opportunities, that create barriers and that ultimately stifle any hope these kids may have that they can get through school and live a better life than what they’ve been handed.”

Keeping it real, people—on social media

Superintendent Kristin Brown, who recently took the helm at Lake Dallas ISD in Texas, began using social media in the previous district she led, Lyford CISD, to remain in touch with families on a human level—particularly during the uncertainties of COVID. “It really eliminated a lot of opportunity for rumors and misinformation to be spread,” Brown notes.

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The connections she made motivated community members to alert her when they spotted false information being posted about her or the district on social media. She bolsters those relationships by regularly surveying her staff and the community, and ensuring all messages are translated into families’ preferred languages.

She encourages other superintendents to be brave and not be afraid to open themselves up in their in-person and online communications with their communities. “You have to be willing to hear the negative,” she explains. “People will take advantage on social media to share their unhappiness with your views or decisions. Take it in stride, and understand the positive outcomes of commutating with stakeholders far outweigh the negative response.”

Brown uses Facebook in particular to share “go team”-type posts about students’ achievements, such as broadcasting a pep rally on Facebook Live. “If it’s just information about the great things are kids doing, which happens on a daily basis, you can just post, you don’t have to share your own thoughts,” she concludes.

The post How two superintendents strive to be “real people” appeared first on District Administration.

“Me being visible as a superintendent is one of my top priorities, and proactively telling our story,” says Hannigan, who joined Hawthorn in 2019 and, earlier this year, was named a Superintendent to Watch by the National School Public Relations Association. “Coming out of COVID, we really wanted to highlight and share all the great things happening in Hawthorn.”

“Dr. Hannigan’s Shenanigans” appears on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly known as Twitter) but is not highly scripted. Hannigan and Samantha Cook, the district’s communications specialist, brainstormed the ideas for the five episodes recorded last school year and the two they’ve done two so far this fall.

In the year’s first episode, he did “Carpool Karaoke” to start off the school year. He drove around district neighborhoods singing with his assistant superintendents. Last Halloween, he dressed up as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters and goofed around with elementary school students during their celebrations.

At the end of last school year, he interviewed eighth-graders as they prepared to leave Hawthorn, a K8 district. His next episode will feature his youngest students, and is called “A Day in the Life of a Preschooler.”

“It’s humility—you have to be able to laugh at yourself; you can’t take yourself too seriously,” he explains. “From time to time it is uncomfortable when you’re putting yourself out there—you don’t know how it’s going to be received. We’re in season two now, and my community loves it.”

Beyond “Dr. Hannigan’s Shenanigans”

Other ways Hannigan stays visible include his regularly scheduled “formal” building visits during which he meets with principals and assistant principals to discuss an area of focus each month. But he’s also in his schools three or four other days a week, and that’s when he spends time with kids wherever they are—in the cafeteria, at recess or in the classrooms.

Meanwhile, the district is in the fifth and final phase of renovating all of its buildings using funds from a bond measure passed in 2018. This year, the district increased its instructional day from about six and a half to seven hours in elementary and middle school. The longer schedule, which has been in the works since prior to COVID, provides more time for instruction in core subjects and also accommodates five days of PE and twice-weekly music and art in the elementary grades.

A big goal for this year is connecting with community members who don’t have students in the system. Hannigan and the district’s parent liaison are launching “Hawthorn Helpers” to recruit these residents to volunteer in our schools. Hannigan plans to visit senior living facilities, rotary clubs, the chamber of commerce and various local events to promote the district’s good work, he points out.

The urgency around storytelling and communication—and social media, in particular—is one of the main ways the superintendency has changed in recent years. “I’m constantly preaching to our administrative team and our staff that we need to tell our story, we don’t want somebody else to tell our story,” he notes. “Getting that timely, proactive communication out is critical.”

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But those communications can’t all be digital. “A lot of time, people want to shoot an email out and things get lost in translation depending on how people read the message,” he adds. “If you have a communication that is more than 5 sentences, you need to pick up the phone still and call people.”

It starts with our staff

His biggest concern is the worsening educator shortage that many districts continue to confront. A former HR director, Hannigan says labor pressures had largely spared his region until about two years ago. “We’re able to staff our buildings but there are fewer and fewer candidates and I’m anticipating it’s only going to get worse, especially in the core content areas,” he explains.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Hannigan believes communication is a solution to the problem. The district’s communications specialist and its assistant superintendent for human resources have been working hard to spread the district’s message and branding, locally, regionally and nationally. That effort includes using social media to promote both Hawothorn and public education and to showcase the achievements of teachers and other staff members.

The district also operates its own leadership academy, to grow its own administrator pipeline from within. “It starts with our staff—the way they talk about the profession to bring back the pride in public education,” he concludes.

The post How a superintendent’s “Dr. Hannigan’s Shenanigans” videos became a big hit appeared first on District Administration.

The bill, introduced Wednesday, would require schools that receive federal broadband funding to prohibit students from accessing social media on all “subsidized services, devices, and networks.” The “The Eyes on the Board Act” was introduced just as the Federal Communications Commission was set to vote Thursday to expand E-Rate Wi-Fi funding from classrooms and libraries to school buses.

“Addictive and distracting social media apps are inviting every evil force on the planet into kids’ classrooms, homes, and minds by giving those who want to abuse or harm children direct access to communicate with them online,” Sen. Ted Cruz, one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a statement. “The very least we can do is restrict access to social media at school so taxpayer subsidies aren’t complicit in harming our children.”

It was unclear whether the Democratic-controlled Senate might approve the bill, which would apply to all social media apps but singles out two by name: TikTok and Instagram.

Internet protections already in place

Currently, The Children’s Internet Protection Act, commonly known as CIPA, requires schools to have Internet filters in place to block students’ access to obscene, pornographic or harmful pictures. Schools must also teach students about appropriate online behavior and enforce Internet safety policies that mandate the monitoring of minors’ online activities.

The Eyes on the Board Act’s sponsors, who include GOP Sens. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, said the bill would “promote parental limits and transparency” on Internet usage by requiring K12 E-Rate recipients to adopt a screen time policy. The FCC would have to maintain a database of districts’ internet safety policies to further inform parents, they explained.

“Students across the country fell behind in a big way because of COVID-era lockdowns,” Budd added in the statement. “Ever since, parents have reasserted their right to be involved in their child’s education.”

Read more: K12 chronic absenteeism has reached ‘stunning’ levels. Here’s why

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This has become even more important in the face of the political divisiveness—and worse—that is intruding on his classrooms. “Every school division has individuals who are there just to create drama, and Suffolk is not immune—we’ve had people make racist comments, we have people right now being extremely homophobic and offensive to transgender students,” says Gordon, who was recently named a Superintendent to Watch by the National School Public Relations Association.

“I’m not the type of person who just allows people to say negative things about the school division or about staff or students.”

Gordon has deployed social media—Facebook and Instagram, in particular—to keep the community informed and engaged in Suffolk Public Schools’ achievements and activities. For the last few years, he’s been meeting his constituents where they are by hosting Facebook Live sessions. He hosts them about four times a year to get important information to parents. “I let them know when there’s a major decision that’s going to be made,” he explains. “We try to make sure that our school community is informed of everything that’s going on. If there’s some drama at a school board meeting, sometimes I will clarify an issue.”

When he was hired in 2019, Suffolk Public Schools’ lone Instagram follower was its own community engagement officer. As of this week, the district has more than 2,500 Instagram followers. For all of Suffolk’s social media channels, Gordon and his team keep metrics to track new followers and engagement, awarding themselves 10 points if a tweet or Instagram post is shared, 7 points for a comment and 3 points for a like. This system also helps determine the best time to post based on when a message is most likely to be seen and shared.

Gordon has also hired a social media specialist position to keep the messaging consistent and create catchy hashtags, among engagement-driven tasks.”When we have our convocations, I tell everybody, ‘Right now, at this moment, I need to you to put up #SPSCreatesAchievers, post something, just put it out there,'” he says. “Then 10 minutes later, we’re trending and I share that as an example to let them know their voice, collectively, gets out there.”

Suffolk Public Schools’ bestseller and other goals

Suffolk Public Schools may be among the few districts in the country that has published its own book. Five students and several department heads helped write Suffolk’s edition of STEM Century: It Takes a Village to Raise a 21st-Century Graduate, which dropped in July and was released with 21stCentEd, an online curriculum provider.

The book—which has become a top seller in Amazon’s professional learning, STEM education and science for kids categories—covers the district’s creation of maker spaces and its career-focused experiential learning programs, among other topics. A documentary chronicling the process of writing the book is due in November.

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Gordon is also focused on ensuring all of Suffolk’s schools are accredited, which has only happened twice since 2010 (once while Gordon was superintendent). At the moment, 18 of its 19 buildings are accredited and the final building’s status is under appeal. “It impacts the fact that people are spewing all this negativity about school division, but our kids are doing well,” he points out.

Students in the class of 2023 earned $34.3 million in scholarships and he struck a deal with Nike to provide all athletic apparel down to the elementary level. The revenue has helped launch an esports team and fund upgrades of facilities that have propelled some of Suffolk’s more traditional athletic teams to state championships. He is also rebuilding a middle school in one of the district’s least affluent neighborhoods.

“The city I live in, we have plenty of money, but it hasn’t always been invested in public schools,” he says. “It took me coming in with my loud mouth to ask the question, ‘Why not?'”

Gordon’s biggest concern for his district is the increasingly antagonistic political environment, which has pulled some of the focus away from what’s best for students. “I actually have school board members who are working against the school division,” he concludes. “My job would be so much easier if you had people who believed in our kids. They don’t—they make it all about the adults.”

The post Why this superintendent calls himself an ‘edu-tainer’ in K12 communications appeared first on District Administration.

Superintendents and their teams should consider leveraging social media to connect teaching recruits with more experienced educators who can share reasons to come work in the district and to develop relationships with prospects, advises Ramon Goings, an associate professor in the Language Literacy & Culture Doctoral Program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

“Just relying on the reputation of the district alone will not always attract the best teachers. School districts will have to be more proactive in their recruitment,” Goings tells WalletHub for its just-released list of 2023’s Best & Worst States for Teachers.

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Leaders also need to control the digital narrative because potential hires will be using social media to research districts when seeking new jobs, adds Anna B. Dowell, a doctoral student in higher education leadership at Maryville University.

“It is helpful to look at social media pages, websites and local news to see if there are particular challenges in a school district,” Dowell notes in WalletHub’s survey. “A young teacher might want to look for schools with a mentorship program and supportive administration that will help guide them as they grow into experienced educators.”

Best states for teachers: By the numbers

From a broader perspective, WalletHub’s rankings of the best states for teachers track conditions in two major categories: “Opportunity & Competition” and “Academic & Work Environment.” Competitive salaries, job security and work-life balance are the key measurements, considering teachers earn among the lowest salaries among professionals with bachelor’s degrees and are making about $3,600 less than they were 10 years ago when accounting for inflation, WalletHub notes.

“Teachers are more fairly compensated and better protected in some states than in others, though,” WalletHub points out. “The best states are less likely to face a revolving door of teacher turnover.”

And just because a state excels in competition doesn’t mean its districts offer the best work environments. In some cases, it’s not even close. New Hampshire, for example, ranks last for “Opportunity & Competition” but 10th for “Academic & Work Environment.” Idaho, on the other hand, landed in the top 10 for the former and the bottom 10 for the latter.

Here are WalletHub’s overall rankings, including, in parentheses, where each state placed for “Opportunity & Competition” and “Academic & Work Environment.”

1. Virginia (1,11)
2. New York (6,3)
3. Utah (2,12)
4. Washington (3,13)
5. Florida (8,8)
6. Maryland (16,2)
7. Massachusetts (22,5)
8. North Dakota (25,7)
9. New Jersey (24,4)
10. Georgia (5,30)
11. Connecticut (27,6)
12. Indiana (17,9)
13. Pennsylvania (14,14)
14. Texas (9,26)
15. Illinois (12,22)
16. Delaware (45,1)
17. California (4,46)
18. Idaho (7,42)
19. Mississippi (13,32)
20. Oregon (10,36)
21. North Carolina (11,38)
22. Minnesota (28,24)
23. Kentucky (32,21)
24. West Virginia (34,20)
25. Wyoming (36,18)
26. Wisconsin (33,23)
27. Nebraska (42,16)
28. Kansas (21,43)
29. Ohio (29,37)
30. South Dakota (30, 34)
31.  Alabama (31,35)
32. South Carolina (23,44)
33. Iowa (44,19)
34. Alaska (15,50)
35. Arkansas (26,45)
36. Montana (37,28)
37. Arizona (19,48)
38. Louisiana (40,27)
39. Michigan (39,29)
40. Oklahoma (18,49)
41. Colorado (41,31)
42. Tennessee (43,33)
43. Rhode Island (46,25)
44. New Mexico (20,51)
45. Missouri (38,40)
46. Vermont (49,17)
47. Nevada (35,47)
48. Maine (50,15)
49. Hawaii (47,41)
50. District of Columbia (48,39)
51. New Hampshire (51,10)

The post Recruiting tools: Why these states are the best places for teachers to work appeared first on District Administration.

In a new report titled “Likes vs. Learning: The Real Cost of Social Media for Schools,” the AFT describes the toll—particularly surrounding youth mental health—certain online technologies have taken on students both in and outside of the classroom as students partake in the “unregulated environment” known as social media.

“We now know that social media is one of the root causes of this problem,” the report reads. “While we acknowledge that social media has both great benefits and great limitations, the principles set forth in this document focus squarely on its limitations.”

The report serves as a reality check to social media companies that need to make “fundamental changes” to their platforms so that students’ and educators’ lives may be improved as a result. According to the report, social media companies should adhere to the following five principles:

• Prioritize children’s safety
• Protect students from becoming addicted
• Protect students’ privacy
• Protect students from risky algorithms
• Engage and work directly with K12 schools and parents

More from DA: Which states boast the best public school systems? WalletHub reports

The report comes at a time when a number of notable school districts, the first being Seattle Public Schools in January, are suing social media giants for their role in exacerbating the youth mental health crisis. But educators can’t be the only ones to protect students from this risk, Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT explained in a statement. Social media platforms must first hold themselves accountable.

“We are glad to work with educators, students, families and medical professionals on this set of recommendations, but it is not enough for us to simply endorse these improvements,” she said. “Social media companies must act to ensure their products are designed with our kids’ safety in mind and reflect the challenges kids face at home and in the classroom.”

As a result, school districts have been forced to allocate valuable resources designed to combat social media’s toll on students, including:

• Hiring additional support staff, such as school counselors and psychologists.
• Increase professional development for school staff to identify symptoms of poor mental health.
• Addressing student behavior.
• Repairs to damaged school property as a result of students acting out.

“Our schools shouldn’t have to devote precious resources to cleaning up the mess caused by social media companies’ reckless pursuit of profit,” said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay in a statement. “It is past time for tech companies to take responsibility for the harms they cause to young people’s mental health and learning, and for Congress to require them to put children’s interests first in the design and operation of their platforms.”

The post Social media is undermining education, says the AFT. What needs to change? appeared first on District Administration.

“A recurring concern from parents and staff was the use of cellphones in middle and high school classrooms, which was cited as a significant distraction from active and continued engagement in classroom instruction,” Superintendent Robbie Hooker said on the district’s website.

In Ohio, Akron Public Schools has expanded a pilot policy to all middle and high schools, where students will now be required to lock their phones in Yondr pouches for the entire school day, WKYC reported. Administrators there linked cellphone use to bullying, mental health problems and distraction, WKYC added. Administrators at Orange County Schools, which is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, intend to expand the district’s cellphone ban from during class time to recess and lunch, FOX 35 reported.

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Administrators and school boards are facing substantial pushback from families when announcing stricter cell phone policies. In Massachusetts, parents argued that Brockton Public Schools’ plan to restrict phones would put children in danger and prevent them from contacting their kids during emergencies, The Enterprise reported. Students told the school board that, when they are experiencing anxiety attacks or other mental health issues, they need their phones to contact their parents, The Enterprise added.

Brockton’s new rule would have required students to put their phones in pouches during class. But after a recent school board meeting where parents and students voiced their concerns, Superintendent Mike Thomas announced on the district’s website that he and his leadership team will redraft its new cellphone proposal.

Cell phone crackdown: Other considerations

Requiring students to stash their phones during class appears to be the leading choice for administrators who are intending to provide a life lesson while also acknowledging reality.

“The use of cellphones in schools is not going to go away, so learning to effectively manage and handle them is a valuable skill for students to learn,” English teacher Nancy Barile posted on Western Governors University’s “Hey Teach” blog. “I became more in tune with my own cellphone addiction through this process. Now, along with my students, I’m working to enjoy my life without my phone a bit more.”

Students’ use of cellphones during class could also be a sign of a lower-tech connection problem. In the Harvard Gazette, graduate school education lecturer Victor Pereira said teachers should ask themselves why students are scrolling on their phones rather than engaging in class. Teachers should also consider how cellphones can enrich lessons. “Design better learning activities, design learning activities where you consider how all of your students might want to engage and what their interests are,” Pereira told the Gazette.

Some administrators have hesitated to set districtwide rules. In Nebraska’s two largest districts—Omaha and Lincoln public schools—high school principals set the cellphone policies in their buildings while in some cases these decisions are left to teachers to manage cell phone use in their own classrooms, KETV reported. “Level one issue is just a student on their phone; it’s interrupting learning … they’re paying attention to ESPN instead of world history,” Lincoln Southwest High School principal John Matzen told KETV. “But we also found students were coordinating with other students to meet up outside of class. ‘Hey, I’m out in the hall, come meet me here.'”

The post Crackdown on cellphones expands as 2023-24 school year approaches appeared first on District Administration.

“It’s great for getting information out and helping us connect with our families and tell parents what’s on the horizon,” White points out. “But social media can be a distraction in class when things are bubbling up between students, and it requires us to talk about it and set boundaries and guardrails.”

Outside of education, policymakers and children’s advocates are now grappling with the idea of putting age limits on social media use. Inside K12, a growing number of educators are convinced that social media is a key culprit in a worsening teen mental health crisis.

William T. Smith, the superintendent of Point Pleasant Beach School District in New Jersey, says he’s not a fan of adding K12 regulations but some social media restrictions for minors are now warranted. “It’s important for us to pick our heads up out of the sand and look at challenges students are facing,” Smith continues. “On some level, as wonderful as these devices are, they also are a weapon to harm ourselves or harm others.”

Creating content to post on Instagram and TikTok allows students to show tremendous creativity, generate income and explore potential future careers, Smith adds. “The benefits are massive but we may have crossed a line,” he says.

Social media restrictions start with smartphones

A growing number of districts are now banning or restricting students’ smartphone use in their efforts to eliminate distractions caused by social media during school hours. Administrators in Pasco County Schools in Florida are proposing to the district’s school board an outright ban in elementary schools and limitations in middle and high schools. Middle school students would only be allowed to use their phones during lunch while high schools could also check them between classes, Superintendent Kurt Browning says.

The trick is to balance parents’ desire to keep track of their kids with educators’ need not to lose instructional time to disruptions. Kids are using phones to make phony threats against their schools via prank calls and social media posts. This, of course, forces district officials to devote time to investigating the threats and communicating with the public.

Then there’s the mental health impact of students seeking other forms of attention on social media. “Kids seek to be recognized on social media, social media consumes them,” Browning says. “I have been off social media for three years now. I found no value in it. Some of the stuff that’s out there is really messing with our kids.”

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Leaders in the Colchester School District in Vermont also expect to tighten their cellphone policies before next school year, Superintendent Amy Minor says. One reason is that, since the pandemic, students have been even more attached to their phones and anxious about checking social media. “We also have seen an increase in students not interacting in a nice way with their peers on social media,” Minor adds.

More than ever, students are caught up in “comparison pressures” caused by obsessing over how other people look or dress on social media. And “a whole new category” of high school students are also increasingly comparing themselves academically—including by tracking the colleges to which their peers have been accepted, she points out.

Educators and parents need to help students realize most people only post good news on social media. “It’s generating anxiety and stress that shouldn’t be there,” Minor says. “We’re seeing a decrease in the number of coping skills that students have when not they’re not successful.”

The social media problem cannot be solved without parents helping students realize there can be serious repercussions to their social media activities, concludes Lawrence P. Filippelli, the superintendent of Lincoln Public Schools in Rhode Island who has served as a consultant on cyberbullying and cybersecurity.

“It comes down to parental control,” Filippelli asserts. “Kids are getting themselves into trouble on social media because they don’t think anything is actionable. “They’re so attached to their technology that it becomes on with them and it’s blurring the line of what’s appropriate and what’s not.”

The post These 5 superintendents say time has come for social media ‘guardrails’ appeared first on District Administration.

Two South Carolina school districts—Fort Mill Schools and the Clover School District—are among the latest to take aim at social media companies for their negative impact on students. The lawsuit targets Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram), TikTok, Snapchat and Google, which owns YouTube.

“We’re hopeful that this will maybe help some of these companies put in some extra safeguards for kids,” Chief Communication Officer of Fort Mill Schools Joe Burke told WCNC. “We heard last night that a lot of kids on this platform are in the 8 to 12 range which shouldn’t even be on those platforms.”

Also this week, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a new mental health advisory addressing social media use and its effects on youth mental health.

“We are in the middle of a national youth mental health crisis, and I am concerned that social media is an important driver of that crisis—one that we must urgently address,” Murthy said in a statement.

While social media poses a clear and immediate threat to students, as the headlines suggest, do school districts stand a chance in their fight to reduce the risk?

Dr. Aaron Saiger, professor of law at Fordham University, says their chances may be slim.

“I am not optimistic about the success of these lawsuits,” he says. “Many, many products have adverse effects on children that create costs for schools. These costs include, but are not limited to, mental health problems for students. Without making any claims about relative magnitude, products that come immediately to mind include television shows, phones, sugary foods, sneakers and music. All of these products arguably harm children but also bring value—which includes enjoyment—to their users.”

He adds that we’ve seen these heightened states of fear and “moral panic” before surrounding new behaviors and technologies that young children take a liking to.

“TV shows, rock music and video games have all been viewed by adults as a scourge that needed to be stopped lest they destroy children and childhood,” he says. “In earlier periods, these conflicts played out over genres like films and even novels. This is not to deny that new kinds of entertainment often do create new problems. They do. But they also create value that hidebound adults cannot—or do not want—to see.”

That being said, he doesn’t think the lawsuits are “preposterous.” If a company produces a potentially harmful product and doesn’t take measures to mitigate the negative effects it has on its audience, they’re responsible for it.

“A company is liable for placing a dangerous product on the market if it failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate the danger its products pose, or if its product is so ‘inherently’ dangerous that the dangers vastly outweigh whatever compensating value it offers,” he explains. “My lay understanding of social media is that it is not the latter; social media provides an enormous value to many people, including children.”

“I do not know whether there are ways to mitigate the bad effects of social media on children that would be realistically achievable and reasonably effective,” he adds. “For example, could companies actually enforce minimum age requirements, and would that help mental health? If there are such steps, social media companies would be wise to take them. But such steps, to be reasonably effective in this context, cannot destroy the value of the product.”

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Another complex element is the idea that students are seemingly addicted to social media, something that Murthy points out in his advisory.

“Small studies have shown that people with frequent and problematic use can experience changes in brain structure similar to changes seen in individuals with substance use or gambling addictions,” the advisory reads.

Another national survey revealed that one-third of girls ages 11-15 reported feeling “addicted” to a social media platform. But according to Saiger, it’s a loaded term in this context.

“It comes from medicine and implies a physical dependency,” he says. “Courts might well hold that it is per se unreasonable to try purposely to ‘addict’ children. But companies are entitled to design products that consumers enjoy using and therefore want to use more of.”

But the lawsuits clearly put pressure on social media companies, he notes. As with the general surgeon’s advisory, they stir public conversation and potential regulatory intervention, regardless of whether the lawsuits are dropped or resolved in favor of the company.

“They might also motivate state and federal regulators to look into the issue,” he says. “The companies might reasonably look for proactive measures that would satisfy some of the districts’ complaints in order to head off adverse regulatory action. This could look like a win to the districts.”

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