Every time a teen turns on a smartphone, choices need to be made. This is where teaching the science of decision making can help. Teachers in Delta, using a Decision Playbook, are showing other B.C. school districts how this might be done.
The Growing Concern of Social Media Addiction
Social media addiction is receiving lots of attention these days, in part due to recent trial decisions involving Meta, Google, and YouTube. In one case, a jury in Los Angeles concluded that Meta and Google acted with malice, oppression, or fraud by building addictive social media platforms that resulted in harm to the mental health of a young woman. Australia has imposed restrictions to limit the use of social media by children under the age of 16. The U.K is testing a similar approach, and Canada is considering various options.
The Need for Decision-Making Skills
As a teacher and researcher who works with teens, I believe that a parallel set of actions needs to take place if teenagers’ mental health problems stemming from social media are to be addressed effectively. The internet will always present viewers, young and old, with vast amounts of information that is only a click away, and the jury is still out on the best way to implement new controls. Yet no matter what changes are made by corporate providers, whether on their own initiative or in response to new regulations, the Metas and Googles of the world are not the ones selecting an app or deciding to share some content with friends. It is the teens themselves — individually or as members of a group, freely or with small or large amounts of pressure and coercion — who make decisions as to where to click, what to share, and how to navigate this new and enticing world of internet options.
Surveys suggest that 90 per cent of North Americans ages 13 to 17 use social media every day, with perhaps one-third of these users admitting to nearly constant and generally passive use. Yet practical decision-making skills that recognize our two modes of thinking — one faster, more automatic, and the other slower, more reflective — are likely being taught in less than 10 per cent of the schools these kids attend. Something here is very off-balance, since every time a smartphone is turned on by a teenager, a sequence of choices, small and large, need to be made.
Rethinking Advice for Teens
Much of the advice that teens receive on how to make social media choices comes in the form of rules related to certain sites (OK or not OK), specific behaviours (do or don’t provide specific information about yourself), or timing (OK to scroll before dinner, but not after 8 p.m.). Yet the powers behind these apps are experts in how to entice users, and often teenagers in particular, to continue to scroll for hours by usurping the power of making choices. So teens click and play and, with an assist from the vague, abstract suggestions they receive — pause and reflect, take a breath — continue to fall victim to the will of corporations.
The Science of Decision Making
What is missing from this picture is the recognition that making choices might involve a set of skills that can be learned in the same way that driving a car, playing basketball, or speaking Spanish require certain skills. This is where the science of decision making can help, in that the specific practical advice contained in common-sense, sequenced questions — What matters in this situation? What are the different things I can do? What will happen if I choose them? — provide guidance that has at least a fighting chance to help the teen regain agency and defeat the app designers.
