“Updated standards for digital media are sorely needed, and a lack of clear curriculum standards for teaching modern media literacy has led to an inaction in many school systems … there is no standard digital media literacy curriculum in the United States,” said the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Dec. 13 report, Social Media and Adolescent Health.
Its recommendations will be provided to Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, and social media companies.
The agency advocates new K-12 curriculum standards set by state boards of education, followed by teacher training in digital media literacy. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation should establish universal standards in this area for both student teachers in training and professional development for veteran educators, the report said.
Teachers, the report said, should have a role in selecting classroom technology. In addition to being well-versed on all tools used by the students, teachers also need to “develop a critical eye for online information” and be able to evaluate the suitability and credibility of Internet content.
“They can educate children in the respectful and responsible way of using social media and teach students about the appropriate levels of sharing in a public forum,” the report said. “Similarly, they are crucial in preventing cyberbullying and the other forms of harassment by protecting victims and teaching students how to deal with those situations.”
The report acknowledges that legislatures in at least 18 states have taken steps to reform school social media use or promote digital literacy education. Still, the vast majority of teachers who are addressing adolescent social media concerns are self-taught, and this grassroots effort led by impassioned teachers, though well-intended, cannot keep up with the speed at which social media is changing. Professional guidance in data privacy, embedded marketing, and reputational consequences is critical.
“When done properly, digital media education is less about warning students and more about increasing their ability to think critically,” the report said.
In addition, the report said, the U.S. Department of Education should consider examples from other countries: Canada and England have content standards and “validated methods to access media literacy in schools.” The report also suggests providing complementary materials to parents so that they can be a partner in educators’ efforts.
The 271-page report also has chapters on how social media works, the relationship between social media and health, potential benefits of social media, online harassment, and research on this topic. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, a nonprofit organization, operates under an 1863 congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln, according to a Dec. 13 news release. Several other nonprofits assisted in compiling this report, including the Committee on the Assessment of the Impact of Social Media on the Health and Wellbeing of Adolescents and Children.
“There is much we still don’t know, but our report lays out a clear path forward for both pursuing the biggest unanswered questions about youth health and social media, and taking steps that can minimize the risk to young people using social media now,” Sandro Galea, committee chair and dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health, said in a public statement. “Our recommendations call on social media companies, Congress, federal agencies, and others to make changes that will protect and benefit young people who use social media.”
This is not the first time an organization of educators, parents or mental health professionals has drawn public attention to this issue. Forty states so far have filed lawsuits against Meta, alleging that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has fueled a nationwide youth mental health crisis by engineering its products to be addictive to children. The New York City health commissioner previously announced that he will develop his own plan to regulate the social media industry. And Harvard University launched a collaborative effort with other universities and nonprofit agencies to investigate the digital well-being of teens.
