SALT LAKE CITY — When it comes to teens and their screens, it can sometimes feel like fear outweighs hope.
Larissa Mae is trying to change that with Half the Story, a movement that teaches teenagers how to navigate the digital world.
“Every child in America should be protected from the harms of social media and empowered to protect themselves in the digital world,” May said.
Half the Story was born out of May’s own social media and mental health struggles, and she understands that teenagers struggle too, which is why the movement isn’t pushing a narrative that teens are victims, but rather empowering them to change their relationship with screens.
Social Media
May helps teens develop a vision through her “Social Media U” program, which teaches digital wellness in and after school, without overwhelming teens with lectures about screen time.
“Screen time is only half the story,” May said.
Instead, the curriculum shows how social media companies and other apps use addictive features to keep young people scrolling, playing games and watching.
It also asks young people to practice “emotional triage” and specify the emotions they experience while in the digital world: If they, or anyone, feel angry, sad, satisfied or numb while online, it’s probably time to take a step back.
Additionally, Social Media U shows teens how to change settings on their devices and platforms to make their media consumption conscious rather than unconscious.
“We’re looking at ways to take the fear out of the (digital) space,” May said.
He’s not expecting Social Media University graduates to ditch their screens entirely. He hopes they’ll work together to craft policies that work for them and their classmates.
Teenagers take the lead
Half The Story places a lot of trust in teenagers to decide how they will use screens. Upon completing Social Media U, teens will come up with solutions that their schools can implement.
Some kids are asking their schools to create a budget for screen-free social activities, while others want schools to provide screen-free spaces.
May is consulting with a teen advisory council to get a sense of what teens are most concerned about and interested in when it comes to the digital space.
Young people are now worried about artificial intelligence and its potential to impersonate them, she said, a technology that has the power to amplify concerns from the “old world” of social media, such as cyberbullying and body image.
“People now have no control over how they look,” she says.
Despite these concerns, May believes a blanket ban on mobile phones in schools isn’t really the right answer, especially when the ban has nothing to do with technology education.
“Simply taking away their phone and giving them an iPad misses the point,” she said.
“No Phone Friday”
“Our passion for digital wellness actually started in Utah,” May says.
Half the Story has expanded across the U.S., including to Canada and the U.K., but May said Utah is one of the most progressive places when it comes to digital wellness, thanks in large part to a push by Gov. Spencer Cox.
Governor Cox on Friday announced “No Phone Fridays,” the latest in a series of social media efforts, in which he urges Utahns to stay off their smartphones on Fridays from June 14 through August 15.
“We want to raise awareness of the importance of having phone-free, technology-free time and encourage parents to work with their children to develop positive phone policies,” Cox said in a statement on Facebook.
“Utah can be a testing ground for the rest of the world to catch up,” May said. “There’s more hope in Utah than almost any other place.”
May said he hopes to help create a community where young people have a voice, perhaps more so in Utah than any other state.
Utahns interested in joining Social Media You or working with May can contact Half the Story, which will likely help them get funding from local investors, she said.
