Sixth grader Selah Bergman, like most kids her age, admits she spends a lot of time watching reels and enjoys it. Once she starts scrolling through her short videos, she will be hard to stop.
“When I’m in the car, I think I’ll just watch a few YouTube shorts before I get somewhere,” said Bergman, who attends Scarlett Middle School in Ann Arbor. “But when I get out of the car, I think, ‘Just one more time.'” It’s very addictive. When creating games or social media apps, designers find ways to keep us hooked. ”
Addiction, cyberbullying, eating disorders, anxiety, and other mental health issues caused by problematic digital behaviors and increased screen time are among the topics of a new and unique interprofessional peer-to-peer digital wellness class at the University of Michigan. Part of it.
This semester, UM students and scholars collaborated with sixth-graders from Ann Arbor Public Schools to launch an interprofessional course that provides classroom and real-world work on digital wellness.
There is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated mental health issues and shifted social engagement to digital platforms. Educating students about digital wellness is critical as we increasingly rely on screens as primary tools for learning, entertainment, and socializing.
“Enhancing digital wellness, including online engagement activities and emotional experiences, is critical to students’ emotional, intellectual, and social well-being.”
Liz Kolb, Clinical Professor, UM’s Marsal Family School of Education
The current digital wellness program evolved from the digital citizenship curriculum designed by Kolb. The curriculum she launched at Scarlett Middle School began with a focus on bullying, privacy, and online safety. As concerns grow among parents, teachers, and academics across the country, a new digital wellness program moves into a broader conversation with children: “How are these devices impacting me?” did.
This program is a collaboration between the Marsal School of Family Education, the School of Information, and the School of Social Work. UM student mentors are undergraduate and graduate students from these schools who are taking digital wellness courses.
“Most education for young people about the use of digital devices focuses on safety lectures and lists of ‘do’s and don’ts’ from adults or authority figures,” Kolb says. “These approaches often do not help young people understand the impact that devices have on their personal mental and physical health, and rarely motivate young people to change their habits.
“This course takes a different approach and provides young people, both college and middle school students, with scientific information about what happens to our bodies when we use screens, both the benefits and harms. We will provide you with information.”
This first class includes 52 sixth-graders from Scarlett, Tappan and Clague middle schools and 11 UM students.
In addition to earning internship credit in this class and seeing digital wellness as an area of interest after graduation, Wangting Chen, a master’s student majoring in education research, took this course for its interdisciplinarity. I decided to do it.
“This course is interdisciplinary and co-taught by the schools of social work, education and information. I want to understand how these three aspects work together,” she said. Ta. “I also needed practical experience to put theory into practice.”
Qian’s research focuses on design and technology for learning across cultures and contexts, and she believes this experience will be useful in her future career.
“Number one is understanding trauma-informed practices,” she said. “This is a concept and theory that all teachers should be aware of and incorporate into their instruction in a culturally sensitive manner that takes into account the prior experiences and personalities of their students.
“Secondly, technology is developing rapidly in today’s world. In addition to investing in new technology, we are also concerned about how it will affect our lives, especially the negative impact for the younger generation. We need to critically consider what we should do when faced with it.”
Munir Khalid of the UM Learning and Education Research Center worked closely with Kolb and colleagues Kristin Fontichiaro, clinical professor of information, and Beth Sherman, clinical associate professor of social work, to develop the new class. development and support.
Researchers said it was surprising to find similarities between sixth graders and college students when it comes to device use and mental health issues. They hope many schools in Michigan and across the country can replicate this digital wellness program.
“Students of all ages were able to share stories, have conversations, and discuss solutions to challenges,” Kolb said. “This near-equivalent approach appears to be leading to more long-term habit change, or at least an understanding of how an individual’s feelings and emotions are affected through screen time.
“There’s a lot of joy in this project, and it’s different from the embarrassment that often comes with school-related talks and lectures on digital safety and citizenship. Engaging with digital devices in a healthy way makes you feel good. must.”
For Oliver Thomas, a sixth-grader at Scarlett Middle School, balance is one of the big points of the program.
“I learned that technology isn’t that bad,” he said. “We need to wait and see because in some cases it can have negative effects. For example, we found that social media can increase the incidence of anxiety and depression. If you do use it, you should think more wisely about how much you use it. You should try to put it off as long as possible. But if you do decide to use it, be sure to time-limit your use. must be established.”
