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Surgeon General Vivek Murthy just called for a warning label on social media sites saying they’re “associated with significant mental-health harms for adolescents.” Of course, it needs to be done—no need to discuss it.
Says the Surgeon General: “The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an essential contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.”
I love how he says and does what he knows is best for the country, no matter the pushback or comments. However, many say a warning label on social media is as easy to ignore as the need to ban cell phones from the classroom.
Why it matters. Some tech researchers and writers argue that Murthy’s recent call for a tobacco-style warning on social media platforms falls flat. They say his call echoes parents’ struggle to handle social media use for teens who aren’t worried about their screen time. Yep, parenting is tough.
So, instead of getting hung up on social media warning labels, here’s an easy one to embrace: hang up on phones in the classrooms.
PERHAPS A TEACHER KNOWS WHAT’S BEST
Teachers despise cell phones in the classroom, even though they know the benefits of tech. They feel it’s just not worth it. But what do teachers know anyway?
Keeping students off of their devices during class was impossible. They seemed permanently and congenitally distracted. Drama, conflict, bullying and scandal played out continually during the school day on platforms to which the staff had no access. Knowing the absurd answer, I asked a ridiculous question—why couldn’t they ban phones during school hours?
They said too many parents would be upset if they could not reach their children during the school day. Parents know (if not, they shouldn’t be parenting) the addiction and distraction these devices cause in their children, many of whom have harrowing stories of self-harming behavior and suicide attempts among their friends’ children.
THE UMBILICAL CORD
Many say because of the school shootings, they need to be able to contact their kids. Some have even called it a lifeline. However, the only line provided is the direct one, allowing parents to contact their kids anytime during the day. It hovers to the ‘nth degree.
Some innovative schools and districts have begun to fight back out of professional survival as the true purpose of their calling has taken a backseat anyway. Educators are tired of plummeting test scores and need more advancement. And it didn’t take analysis, peer review, or school board input; it took common sense.
GUARANTEED RESULTS
Nationwide, many schools have gone entirely phone-free during the school day. So, the time is right for parents and educators to ask: Should the school day be phone-free? Would that reduce rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm? Would it improve educational outcomes? The answer to all of these questions is an obvious yes.
Unlimited studies show that, despite school rules, students check their phones often during class and receive and send texts if they can get away with it.
Their focus is often and easily derailed by interruptions from their devices, as 97 percent of ALL students in ALL grades said they use their phones during class for non-educational purposes. Nearly 60 percent of students said they spend more than 25 percent of class time on their phones, mostly texting.
JUST THE THOUGHT OF A CELLPHONE
Interestingly, many of these conditions do not involve active phone use––just the potential distraction of knowing your phone is there, with texts and social media posts waiting. The results were precise: The closer the phone was to students’ awareness, the worse they performed on the tests. Even just having a phone in their pocket sapped students’ abilities.
Teachers are tired of looking out at 30 students distracted by 30 phones as they are undeterred by any authority to pay attention. And if the phones are taken away, you know what happens next as they are all represented by high-powered legal defense teams, Mom and Dad.
A DEEPER DILEMMA
We know what needs to be done, yet we ignore the devastating results. The further down we go in the rabbit hole on this, the darker and deadlier the consequences for a generation of students will be.
So, as cellphone use in the classroom makes students dumber, parents not doing anything about it makes them the dumbest. So perhaps warning labels should be put where real social media use and damage occurs—in the classroom.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder/CEO of the non-profit The Student Success Project. He can be reached by email at ritchie@studentsuccessproject.org and on Facebook as The Student Success Project.
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