A task force established by the Mississippi Legislature to explore mental health issues that are affecting schools recently issued its report. It included 21 recommendations that the task force said can be put in place as early as next year.
The topic is dispiriting. The task force’s cover letter cited research that said the mental health of children and adolescents had been declining even before the covid-19 pandemic.
“This was worsened by the pandemic, which caused increased isolation, loss, economic insecurity, and other issues impacting mental health,” the letter said. It also cited reports from schools that said more children have not developed the ability to “learn, grow and succeed despite trauma.”
Before digging into the recommendations, the question needs to be repeated: What’s behind these mental health struggles? Obviously we’re more aware of this problem in recent years, but why do so many more kids seem to be affected?
The report does mention the pandemic as a recent factor, which makes sense. But it also says these mental health issues were a problem before that.
It may not say so directly, but a logical explanation would be the influence of social media. Online bullying and other cruelties surely amplify any feelings of insecurity that many kids have — such as the fear that their peers are talking about them and laughing at them.
And if we’re being honest, kids don’t have to look far on social media for lousy adult role models. How many parents and grandparents cannot resist the temptation to insult someone else over a disagreement of Trump vs. Harris, Ole Miss vs. LSU, or Blacks vs. Whites?
So it’s no surprise that Recommendation No. 3 from the task force says the Legislature should require all school districts to set up policies that prohibit the use of “social media, cellphones, smart watches and other technology unrelated to classroom learning, during classroom instruction.”
Some will read this as a suggestion to prevent students from bringing phones to school. It doesn’t say that; it recommends only that the devices should not be used while students are in class. This is surely because there’s a good reason for students to have a phone at school: That allows them to contact their family in an emergency.
Here’s a compromise for families who want their kids to be in contact, but are tired of the drama that comes with too much technology: Give them a plain old cellphone instead — one that isn’t connected to the internet and can’t log on to social media. That way kids can stay in touch with their family but won’t be obsessed with the latest online gossip and meanness.
The members of the task force, and the people who spoke at their hearings, aren’t making it up when they say mental health problems among students are increasing. If social media is even partly to blame, parents should not allow their children to become overwhelmed by it.
