Despite my age, I was brought up with “technology.” My dad was a computer software specialist during the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, so our dinner table conversations were always surrounding what was the newest development. I was the first of my friends to have a home computer that I used regularly. Still, when social media really began to take off, I was busy with three small children. As my kids grew, they ensured that I stayed somewhat aware. I had a Facebook page, but never posted, a twitter account that I never checked or tweeted. As a teacher, my students started having Facebook accounts and trying to friend me. It all seemed very overwhelming. By that time I was teaching full time and completing an accelerated college program, I did not have time to keep up with social media. It was easier to sort of “unplug” rather than to face the anxiety that keeping up with it all caused.
Now I am still teaching, and still going to school but at a much more manageable pace. My current students no longer care about Facebook but are all about Snapchat and Instagram. The previous district that I taught in had Chromebooks for all students and all of our assignments were online. This was a learning curve for me, but I embraced it and actually found doing everything online made my work life easier. The programs did all of my grading, kept track of my students’ progress with the standards, and advised me on the next steps that I needed to take with each student. Everything we did was online. Then we lost the internet for two days. I was forced to go back to the way that I learned how to teach, and I remembered why I loved it. The students, who had previously complained, were suddenly engaged. They showed more growth in those two days than they had in weeks. I was reminded that everything needs balance. The internet and its offerings were not evil, they just required balance.
I worry about my students. I have more students exhibiting anxiety than I have ever seen before. They are depressed, many of them already being medicated, and they are in 6th and 7th grade. They come to school exhausted with stories about staying up all night playing Fortnite or Snapchatting until 3 in the morning. Many of them do not know how to interact socially in person because they are constantly conducting relationships through screens. I again go back to balance. We all need balance. The internet and social media can be amazing tools when used in balance with living. They can help us stay connected and informed. Yet, I still don’t have an answer to the question, “how do we teach today’s youth to find a healthy balance when using social media and the internet when it is not something that they have necessarily ever seen or known?”