When checking my daughter’s Facebook page during the past school year, I noticed that she’d posted photos of herself with classmates that could only have been taken at school.
When I asked her about the photos, she said she and her classmates took photos during media class and posted them. Why, I wondered, did she have access to Facebook during classtime?
It wasn’t until mid-way through eighth grade that we allowed our daughter, who will be a ninth-grader this year, to get a Facebook page. Well aware of the potential problems—it’s a huge distraction and there’s the fear of cyberbullying—I wanted to delay as long as possible. Finally, I succumbed and she was soon collecting friends and posting photos.
When I realized that she could access the page at school, that was bothersome. Now it turns out I had more reason to be concerned.
New research shows that students who use Facebook can be less healthy, more depressed and do worse in school, according to the American Psychological Association.
In fact, middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades, according to Larry Rosen, a professor of psychology at California State University. Rosen spoke at the 119th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association held earlier this month in Washington.
And there’s this: Too much media and technology use can make kids “more prone to anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders.”
Wow.
There are some upsides, according to Rosen. Kids who use Facebook are better at showing “virtual empathy” to their online friends and online social networking can help introverted adolescents learn how to socialize “behind the safety of various screens.”
Every parent knows that trying to control kids’ access to technology is a Sysyphean task. Win the battle over too much texting and lose the fight over time spent on Facebook. With students no longer tethered to a desk top computer, there’s just no way to know how much time they spend online.
Ask a teacher or principal in Montgomery County Public Schools and they’ll say that figuring out how to dealing with students’ dependence of technology is an ongoing issue. Like other districts across the country, MCPS is still trying to determine the best way to allow wireless access while blocking inappropriate sites.
“We can’t ignore the fact that technology is an integral part of students’ lives,” said Jennifer Baker, principal of Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda. “We have to embrace it.”
The proliferation of cell phones—many with Internet access—among students means that schools have had to abandon the old policy of confiscating phones if kids pulled them out. It’s just too difficult to do. So schools are adjusting their policies.
At Walter Johnson, students can use their phones while in the halls and during lunch, according to Baker. The phones must be out of site in classrooms.
Rosen also noted what parents and teachers already know: students’ use of media has impacted their attention span. “We have created a world for students where they cannot focus because we have given them all this really cool stuff that is distracting,” he said in a story posted on Time.com.
Rosen suggests a possible solution: Offer students “tech breaks,” a scheduled time during class when they are allowed to check their phones and use apps. That way, they’ll be able to put away their phones and focus on a lesson because they know they’ll get use them at a set time.
“We now know neurologically that if we don’t have a tech break, kids are already starting to think about anything other than what the teacher is talking about. If they know they get a tech break, they’re able to stop those thoughts. It works amazingly,” Rosen told Time.
Sounds like an idea whose time has come.
