Essential Bulletin for Educators
July 2023
The goal is to give youth more agency over social media apps, so teens are using these apps instead of the apps using teens.
About 95% of U.S. teens today use some type of social media, and about a third say they use it "almost constantly," the Pew Research Center found in August. At the same time, teens and tweens are facing a mental health crisis. And research indicates that these two trends are intertwined: that social media can cause depression and lower life satisfaction.
Below are 6 steps to help support teens toward balanced screen use:
Step 1: Learn what you're up against
Here's what teens and young adults say over and over again: Know what you are up against with social media. Social media apps know very well how to exploit human behavior to keep you coming back.
Step 2: Get your baseline
Because of the way social media taps into our brain circuitry, most of the time we hardly realize we're using the apps. It's habitual or even subconscious. That's why young people suggest doing a digital audit to help bring this usage into your consciousness.
Step 3: Add "friction" to make yourself pause
Just as friction on the road slows down your car, friction on social media slows your usage. Basically, it's adding apps that throw up small obstacles when using social media. Friction makes you pause for a bit and think before you mindlessly log on, scroll or click.
Step 4: Hack your apps' default settings
Never go by the default settings that tech companies give you. Teens say that turning off notifications is the first — perhaps the most critical — step here.
Step 5: Enrich your 3D life
Many young people notice that they use social media when they're bored (or stressed and need a distraction). Reinvigorating your life offline is critical to healthy social media usage; then, cutting down social media becomes much easier. You don't have to accept boredom offline.
Step 6: Reach out to your parents for help — or if you're a parent, get involved
This isn't ironic or a joke. Teenagers say over and over again that they want their parents to help them regulate their social media use.
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Adapted from, Doucleff, M. (May 17, 2023). Teens say social media is stressing them out. Here's how to help them. NPR: All Things Considered. [Online]. Available: Teens say social media stresses them out. Here's how they're breaking the habit : Shots - Health News : NPR
Current paraeducators have the opportunity to obtain credentials, credits, and/or an associate of arts degree at no cost while actively learning and working in their LEA.
Governor Shapiro has announced the Paraeducator Preparation Pathways Grant, another $1.5 million to bolster the special education workforce. Grants are available to Intermediate Units that partner with a Pennsylvania community college and one or more local education agencies (LEAs).
The ultimate goal of this grant is for current paraeducators to obtain credentials, credits, and/or an associate of arts degree at no cost while actively learning and working in their LEA.
If you/your LEA is looking to enhance paraeducator pathways to advance the skills and knowledge of special education, please visit the APR Repository to learn more about this grant opportunity. The recording of the overview webinar, Request for Application (RFA) and a pdf of the application are available for viewing. Grant applications are due end of day on Friday, August 11, 2023.
For more information, please contact, Carol Good, PaTTAN West Assistant Director – cgood@pattanpgh.net or Christine Moon, APR State Lead – cmoon@pattanpgh.net.
PaTTAN is excited to release the updated Credential of Competency Checklist to match the most recent video series released in 2023. The series consists of seven videos and matches the updated Credential of Competency Checklist used by new paraprofessionals to obtain “qualified” status, per 22 PA Code Chapter 14.105(a)(1)(iii).
Would you like to work smarter, not harder, to have your students:
- Earn better grades?
- Have higher graduation rates?
- Be more likely to enroll in higher-level programs?
- Display positive attitudes toward school?
Effective family engagement can help in all these areas! Experts noted that the most immediate measurable effects of engagement are improved student attendance and graduation rates. Engagement also leads to higher academic achievement and college attendance. In addition, engagement leads to better attitudes toward school and better student behavior in school.*
Let the PaTTAN Family Engagement Initiative assist you in working smarter, not harder. Please contact familyengagementconnect@pattankop.net.
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*Pineau, M.G., L’Hôte, E., Davis, C., & Volmert, A. (2018). Beyond Caring: Mapping the Gaps between Expert, Public, Practitioner, and Policymaker Understandings of Family, School, and Community Engagement. Washington, DC: FrameWorks Institute.
Mental health in childhood includes reaching developmental and emotional milestones, as well as learning healthy social skills and how to cope when there are problems.
Mental health disorders in children and adolescents are described as serious changes in the way children typically learn, behave, or handle their emotions, causing distress and problems getting through the day. It is estimated that approximately 30% of school-aged children will experience a behavioral, mental, or developmental condition in any given year.
This page contains resources for parents, educators, and professionals serving children and youth in the school and community settings.
The mission of the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) is to support the efforts and initiatives of the Bureau of Special Education, and to build the capacity of local educational agencies to serve students who receive special education services.