Laura was a first year university student when I met her in the hospital emergency room. She had slashed up her arms with the bow of her violin. She told me it was not a suicide attempt, but rather an act of desperation to cope with her feelings of exhaustion and anxiety. As a child, Laura was a star student excelling in academics and music, and she spent a lot of time in those activities. Laura’s mother solved many of her problems for her and protected her from everyday stresses, such as doing chores, because she didn’t want to interfere with Laura’s success in winning awards and medals. Things changed around the age of 16, when Laura began to have trouble with a curriculum that required critical thinking, creativity and collaborative group projects. Once in university, things became much worse and Laura admitted to me that she slashed her arms after she cheated in an English assignment that she was at risk of failing.
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While it’s a common realization that the world has become a connected global village, it’s also a fact that we are seeing increasing divisions based on ideology, culture, class, race, religion, family values, and politics. With each passing day, differing attitudes, cultural values, perceived social norms, and political ideologies are pulling people further apart. This increased polarization is also making people feel isolated, demoralized, or angry since dialogue often ends up in arguments, hostility, and further division rather than listening, connection, problem-solving and social cohesion.
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It would not be news to say that excessive use of technology is negatively affecting children of all ages. Screen time not only affects children’s mental health, but can also negatively impact parent-child relationships, attention span, self-esteem, self-identity, academic performance, physical fitness, and social development. According to a survey, around 70% of parents these days struggle with excessive tech use at their homes. Be it smartphones, tablets, or laptops, parents are finding it hard to manage the screen time of children. The issue does not end here; managing tech use is also a key concern at schools as devices continue to be an integral part of learning. This makes us eager to learn and understand the idea of tech withdrawal—behaviours and emotions children exhibit when technology use is diminished or removed. In this blog, let’s learn about tech withdrawal, what it is and what parents and teachers can do to manage it effectively.
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While smartphones prove to be a powerful educational, safety, communication, and organizational tool within schools, it also raises concerns about distraction, academic integrity, cyberbullying, and social isolation among students. This is why, schools all around the world are deliberating different policies to tackle the negative consequences of cell phones for the youth of all ages. This blog outlines different cellphone policies implemented by various countries across the globe, the rationale behind it, as well as the results of these unique policies.
