Technology
campusreview.com.au
Clearing the
mental fog
The effects of social
media on learning and a
pedagogical way forward.
By John Lewis
T
he context to any contemporary discussion on student
learning and pedagogy is the exponential growth in
the influence of the internet over the past 40 years.
Subsequently, we must note “the importance of an intentional
approach to using the internet in a managed, scheduled and
thoughtful manner. Indeed, students appear to flourish when the
internet fails to dominate but is of assistance to the disciplined,
independent and creative thinker” (Education Review, online,
18 June 2018).
In addition, social media – and a general preoccupation with
internet content – is also potentially a detractor from student
wellbeing, which is a prerequisite for successful learning.
TEENAGE ISOLATION – A SOCIAL MEDIA CREATION
Social isolation among teenagers, by way of a deficit of genuine
connectedness, is resulting in a profound lack of learning
engagement. In regard to broader society, research has found that
the rapid rise of social media has led, ironically, to a growing sense
of isolation in society.
A study carried out by the University of Pittsburgh, led by Brian
Primack, director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology,
and Health, found that people who visit social networks over 58
times a week are three times more likely to feel lonely than those
who use the sites under nine times. In fact, their study concluded
that people who spent two hours a day or more on social media
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had twice the odds of feeling socially isolated than people who
spent less than half an hour a day.
This research was supported by a study published in the
American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which found that people
who reported higher levels of social media exposure also reported
feeling more socially isolated.
These findings are compounded when one considers the
implications for adolescent learning. Indeed, the implications are
profound when we add to this research a social isolation study
conducted by the University of Michigan that suggests “more and
more teens are choosing teenage isolation as a way to protect
themselves from rejection and pain”.
As a consequence, they often choose media to make
connections, which risks enhancing their social isolation,
since social media cannot meet their expectations and usually
compounds their disconnectedness.
Social media can be a robust, critical and demoralising
environment for an adolescent. It can also facilitate an obsession
to be liked, tagged and followed, none of which is conducive
to balanced mental health, with its hallmarks of enriching face-
to-face encounters, self-confidence, a sense of belonging and
inter-dependence. The consequences of social isolation, and its
accompanying feelings of loneliness, is often depression and anxiety.
FROM ISOLATION TO DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND
IMPAIRED LEARNING
According to Sally Hamami of The Beckman Chronicle, about
“20 per cent of teens will go through depression before reaching
adulthood. Sadness ties into poor concentration at school and
the feeling that none of this is worth learning”. Indeed, Charlie
Glicksman, a clinician from Johns Hopkins University, believes
that “anxiety is also something that plays along with depression
and does affect grades greatly”.
Depression can leave students with the feeling that their minds
have shut down as they navigate their way through a mental fog.