High school students face significant challenges with social media use during instructional time, a concern shared by educators, including teachers, paraeducators, and administrators. With social media access unblocked or lenient smartphone policies, we are losing precious minutes meant for learning. Even when a smartphone or device is out of sight, the cognitive hook of a digital distraction can lure a student away from the lesson, and it can take 23 minutes to recover. In short, we must protect instructional time. Protecting instructional time requires clear boundaries with students, which may include implementing or adopting new policies on 1:1 programs, device filtering, and hard stops on device use at night (among other ideas). This could also include guidelines for communicating with parents, especially when parents encourage their children to use social media to connect.
At the same time, as we consider limiting or blocking social media and making policy adjustments, we need to focus on restricting online dangers such as bullying, offensive content, and grooming, issues that can rival those adults face on these platforms (and elsewhere). Most school districts can access tools from vendors such as Linewize or Securly to improve visibility and address these risks effectively. Our district is proud to partner with Linewize, a leader in student safety solutions. Their advanced filtering technology and holistic approach to digital well-being set the gold standard for protecting our students. With Linewize by our side, we’re ensuring a safer, more focused learning environment like never before. Adopting and deploying these safety tools to protect students is admirable; the positives outweigh any perceived drawbacks. After all, they are children and young adults under our care at school.
Educators often overestimate physical-world dangers while underestimating digital ones. To keep students safe, we must protect and monitor their activities on school-issued accounts and devices. We expose ourselves to liability not from using tools designed to protect students, but from failing to implement them. Again, the cost of not activating these protections far outweighs any perceived drawbacks. Just as we supervise students in cafeterias and classrooms to ensure their safety, we must extend that supervision into the online space.
We must address the core question: What is the intended purpose of laptop, Chromebook, and iPad programs? These devices should support academic growth and educational value, not social media, doom-scrolling, or impulsive behavior, especially during school hours. Without proper safeguards, they risk becoming focal points of significant issues rather than learning resources. We must align our educator practices, goals, efforts, and professional development to ensure our devices serve as educational assets, not distractions.
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