Digital danger (Part 3): Kids ‘missing out on life’ due to social media, says teacher

The proliferation of cellphones and the pervasive use of social media are robbing students of their childhood, says a teacher with the Greater Essex County District School Board.  

She has seen an increase in the number of fights, in and out of the schoolyard, that are recorded and then posted online; a drop in the attention span of students who are distracted by their phones — through the use of social media, messaging apps and even watching movies in class —  the sexualization of students’ clothing influenced by what they see on apps like TikTok, YouTube and Instagram; invasion of students’ privacy, and a steep decline in respect shown in the classroom as more young children are spending time with digital devices given to them by busy parents. 

Article content

The Star is withholding the identity of the teacher so none of her students can be identified.   

“The first (issue) would be the obvious one of fights happening and every kid pulling out their phone and videotaping,” she told the Windsor Star. “Within seconds they’re sending it to other people.”  

Not only are there more fights, but some are prearranged, she said.  

“This is like, ‘I’m going to text 40 people and tell them where the fight’s going to be in 10 minutes.’ People can communicate very quickly, and we can’t control it.”  

Videos are often exchanged through messaging apps such as WhatsApp, and they’re placed online, she said.   

“Within seconds they’re sending it to other people. So even if the 10 people who are watching the fight delete the video, we can’t control the other 200 people who now have the video.  

“This has been an issue, I’m going to say, for at least seven years where we’ve noticed that’s on the uprise.”  

She recalled a fight that broke out at school a few years ago that was placed online and then circulated almost instantly. “It went crazy within (seconds). Everyone was brought in. They had to delete them off their phones (but) it had already gone too far.”

Article content

The aftermath of fights — even those that take place after classes and off school property — often causes more problems, she said. With the videos circulated and online, and comments attached to them, there is often a “continuation” at school the next day, she said. That continuation can mean another fight.  

With most students now using cellphones and accessing social media and messaging apps, life at school is being influenced by events that students have no connection with other than what they see in a digital world, she said.  

“You also have kids who will hide their phones in class, so they’ll sit there with their phone in their lap, watching movies. Now their academics are failing greatly because they’re missing full lessons.”  

And when teachers ask them if they’re using their cellphone, some will outright lie about it and deny it, she said. 

Social media content has even changed some students’ career ambitions, she said.  

“They want to be a YouTuber, they want to be a TikTok star. That is where our ambition is right now. It’s not, ‘I want to be a doctor or a lawyer.’ I don’t even know when the last time I heard that.”  

Article content

Article content

Some children use their ease of messaging with their parents to escape class, she said. “They’ll text their parent and say, ‘I don’t want to do this lesson. Can you call and get me out of school?’”  

Others will say they’re sick and ask parents to pick them up.  

And some students don’t seem to understand the ramifications of sexting, she said, with cases of “girls or boys sending naked or half-naked pictures to their boyfriend or girlfriend. 

“The other issue is kids receiving that picture. Whether they sent it or not, that’s a possession of child pornography, and that’s what people have gotten charged with.”  

Some students will bring their phones into bathrooms. “And then kids are going over and under stalls, taking pictures. We’re never going to have staff in a bathroom (for security). It’s a touchy subject.”  

Students’ clothing is also being strongly influenced by social media, she said. “Six and seven-year-olds are watching TikTok and so, because you’re watching inappropriate dancing, inappropriate dress attire, they think that’s the norm.  

“You have kids who come in and inappropriately dance in the hallway. How do you control that? How do you stop it? It’s the dancing. It’s the way you dress.”  

Article content

Yet there is a reluctance to enforce guidelines at the public board’s schools because that could result in a showdown with parents, the teacher said. 

“If there’s something offensive on the shirt that could be asked to be turned inside … if it’s racial, gender, sexuality, anything like that, we could ask for that to be changed, or if any body parts are showing, we could ask for them to change.”  

Many of these issues arise because parents who don’t have the time to properly supervise their children, either because both parents are working or they may be in single-parent families, she said.  

Some parents don’t even realize how much they themselves are involved in social media, and the child sees that, she said.  

Parents who do monitor their children’s social media accounts might not realize they often have more than one account under different names, she said.  

“So even when parents think, ‘Hey, I’m watching my kid’s Instagram account. I have them as a friend,’ there are kids that have three or four accounts, all under different names.”  

Childrens’ need to access social media is becoming so pervasive that it’s “causing everyone to be very on edge and very short-tempered,” she said. “It becomes worrisome because I can see it.”  

Article content

Students are telling lies more often to hide their behaviour and they’re showing less respect in the classroom, she said.  

“Back when we went to school, it would be a child who was the mouthy child. It might be two in the intermediate section. I would say it’s a third of a class of half of a class now.  

“There is a just a demeanour of, ‘You’re not going to tell me what to do. I’m not going to get in trouble.’” 

Students’ distraction from cellphones has “changed drastically” in the last two years, she said.   

And removing a phone from a student isn’t always so simple. An Ottawa teacher reportedly had his nose broken and received death threats for removing phones. 

Ontario recently changed its guidelines to require that students in kindergarten to Grade 6 keep phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day, unless they’re given permission to use them by a teacher. Students in grades 7 to 12 are not permitted to use cellphones during class time unless directed by the educator.  

But the reaction to those guidelines has not been enthusiastic, with some saying it won’t change much in schools.  

Article content

You’re too busy worried about this fake TikTok life

Education Minister Jill Dunlop, who took over the job last month, spoke out about how the province plans to enforce cellphone rules in schools at a news conference in Caledon on August 29. 

“If students do not abide by those rules, they will be asked to put the cellphone in a safe space in the classroom,” Dunlop said. 

“If students do not follow that, they will be asked to go to the principal’s office. There are discipline measures in place that could be taken and we will support the principals in those measures.” 

That would appear to transfer the responsibility for removing a cellphone from unco-operative students to the school administration. 

Total cellphone bans in school have been tried. New York City, for example, put in place a complete cellphone ban on school property more than a decade ago, mainly enforced by metal detectors, but lifted that ban in 2015 under pressure from parents who wanted to be able to contact their kids. Cellphone rules in New York now look much like Ontario’s newest restrictions.

Article content

Meanwhile, cellphones have become too dominant in students’ lives, the Windsor teacher said.  

She would like to see cellphones banned from school property, but that would have to come from the province, and that leadership won’t happen, she said.  

“I think their childhoods are being taken away from them. Even people’s adulthoods are being taken away from them. I think you’re missing out on opportunities.

“You’re missing out on lessons because you’re too busy looking down. You’re not looking at the world around you.   

“You’re missing out on these life lessons, you’re too busy worried about this fake TikTok life. I think it’s ruins opportunities for so many people.  

“I think it’s not giving them a fair shot in life.”  

[email protected] 

Digital Danger: In a week-long investigative series, the Windsor Star looks at social media and young people — how they are being affected and how dangerous the content can be. Reporter Brian MacLeod’s six-part series concludes with suggestions for parents to become a key part in making social media safer for their children.

Part 1: What parents need to know about the risks of social media

Part 2: A story of trust and betrayal on social media

TODAY: Social media triggering fights, robbing children of opportunities: teacher

Part 4: The life of a teen on social media is chasing likes; how AI is changing social media landscape

Part 5: Young people drawn to social media by need for approval

Part 6: Parents are key to making social media safe for their children

Article content