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Screen time leads to increased student mental health issues, violence, sexual misbehavior, and distracted learning.
About every 15 years, schools and staff welcome a new generation into their learning environments. Generation Alpha—students born between 2010 and 2025—is the newest generation of learners currently in our elementary schools. The generation is growing rapidly, with 2.5 million children born globally each week. At this rate, there will be almost 2 billion Generation Alpha learners by 2025, which will make them the largest demographic in the world.
Who is Generation Alpha?
Generation Alpha learners are unique compared to Gen Z, Millennials, and other previous generations, as everyone in Generation Alpha was or will be born into a technologically advanced world.
Technology is so defining to this generation that they already have a few nicknames: Generation Glass, Global Generation, and iGeneration. They have vast technological literacy, and they can access pretty much any information online. Not to mention, they are exposed to different lifestyles, beliefs, etc., and can form relationships with people from all over the world without even leaving home.
They are expected to be the most digitally literate and globally connected generation yet. But how does access to technology and digital learning affect how schools teach Generation Alpha students and keep them safe?
Does Screen Time Lead to Increased Student Mental Health Issues?
Generation Alpha kids learn about cell phones and screens very early in their lives. Take a second to think about it. How many times have you seen young children watching YouTube or playing games on a cell phone while their caregivers take a moment to relax or enjoy a meal? Not to mention remote and hybrid learning, especially early in the pandemic, forced Generation Alpha students to increase their screen time while drastically limiting their social interaction.
This increased exposure to digital screens has physical and mental health consequences, like risk of obesity, reduced attention spans, and higher rates of anxiety and depression.
A 2021 JAMA Pediatrics study found that adolescents spend nearly 8 hours a day in front of a screen. The higher the amount of screen time, the more they reported stress and anxiety. This may be partly due to doomscrolling, or when people expose themselves to negative news by mindlessly scrolling through social media for hours. Additionally, the longer children spend watching screens, the less time they have for other activities like face-to-face social interaction, sports and other physical activity, family time and getting adequate sleep.
How Does Screen Time Affect How Students and Children Behave?
The digital content adolescents watch or games they play can also influence how they act, sometimes inspiring them to be violent or misbehave. In fact, health experts warn that YouTube is a “growing source of…inappropriate sexual behavior among kids under the age of 13.” There’s also the growing concern of social media challenges that influence students to engage in illegal, inappropriate, and dangerous activities.
Some students are also using school-provided educational technology to misbehave. According to the EdWeek Research Center, nearly 45% of respondents reported that students are using the school-provided technology to hack others or cyberbully. While some parents expect schools to ensure students use the technology appropriately, school administrators claim it is unrealistic for guardians to put that responsibility only on schools.
“Parents want us to make sure that they don’t go to this website or don’t go to that website,” Todd Ostrander, District Technology Director at Richland School District, says. “You have to try to explain to them, we can’t really control every minute of the day that [their] child [is] on a device.”
What Challenges do Schools Face with Digital Learning and Education Technology for Generation Alpha?
With the world at their fingertips, many Generation Alpha students are getting distracted. They tend to watch YouTube videos or scroll social media instead of paying attention to the class lesson or completing their assignment. In the same EdWeek Research Center survey, “60 percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders flagged tech distractions as a big stumbling block to reach deeper, more meaningful tech usage.”
Over 55% of educators report they’re concerned about student screen time. Over half of teachers and nearly half of students claim to have tech fatigue (they’re tired of staring at screens). Although some students are so familiar with learning on screens that they have a difficult time with traditional instruction. Tim Scott, Principal of Alta Elementary School, states some students are so attached to screens, that they “will throw tantrums when our regular learning is taking place because they want to be on the electronic device.”
How Does Generation Alpha Change Our Approach to School Safety and Student Mental Health Support Services?
First, students need increased mental health support services. For the Generation Alpha students in our schools today, much of their young lives have been defined by COVID-19. And as we just learned, the amount of screen time also impacts their wellbeing and even how students behave in our schools. This school year has already been one of the most violent in history, and the rate of student violence and misbehavior only seems to be increasing.
Second, every school needs a school safety ecosystem, which is a toolbox of various components that can help schoolteachers and staff quickly ask for help and respond to incidents—whether it’s a student throwing a tantrum, making verbal threats, or being caught using digital technology in the classroom to cause harm to others.
The Raptor School Safety Suite helps schools better prepare for and address behavioral issues and violence. Raptor also makes it easier for schools to recruit and screen volunteers and mentors that can help support student mental health challenges.
To learn more, contact us today to schedule a personalized demo.
