Page 20 - FIS World JUne 2024

Alice in Onlineland
Keep your temper with the (Anti)Socials
It all started with Candy Crush. After school, while our tutu-ed princesses did the REAL ballet lesson in the FIS Primary School Auditorium,
moms and younger siblings had a go at the new game on iPads. It looked made for children but mesmerized adults, too. The juicy candy, fairytale cartoon graphics, hypnotic music, and voice –
“Marvelous!” – mixed into an irresistible cocktail. Like curious Alice (in Wonderland) following the White Rabbit down the hole in the tree, we adults and kids alike jumped into that candy land saga headfirst, beating level after level, and delighting in the dopamine stream.
Socials on Slot-Machine Steroids
Fast forward a decade or so and “the socials” – shorthand for “social media” – boomed. Casual game growth declined as game-social hybrids moved front and center, keeping users irresistibly addicted because of their “slot machine logic”: users remain engaged because they don’t know when the“reward”is coming. Like Alice navigating a landscape where the rules of the real physical world do not apply, our kids now navigate a slot-machine, AI-powered virtual world that keeps them playing, scrolling, posting, liking, and showing their self-filtered and beautified selves – and disengaging with real life.
Founder of Social Awakening Max Stossel said during an April presentation at FIS: “What are we doing? WHAT are we doing? WHAT ARE WE DOING?” A former social media strategist, Stossel now focuses his efforts elsewhere, educating parents, students and teachers on the perils of social media and its impact on our lives. Mobile games with in-app purchases keep users buying unreal items with real money to get ahead of other players. Social media keeps users scrolling, watching, and publishing high-octane short- video content 24/7. All deliberately designed to keep users hooked.
Who. Are. You? (The Caterpillar asks Alice)
“It’s not screen time, it’s social media,” Stossel said, pointing to the urgency in disconnecting. Numerous studies – some as early as the 2014 national survey by Pittsburgh University’s Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health
– have reported a correlation between overuse of social media and depression, social isolation, and decline in working memory. During a session at FIS, Stossel challenged Grade 11 students to look at some of their most cherished apps – Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok – through a new lens.
He asked for a show of hands of how many used Snapchat’s Snapstreaks – the consecutive days a user sends someone a Snap and gets one back, which must be fed daily. Most hands went up. He then asked how many felt happy about keeping up the streaks. Most raised hands went down.
This is where many of our kids are: curious Alices going down the social media rabbit hole, into an intangible place removed from physical life, where they risk losing their sense of identity, agency and belonging. Social media is, in fact, powerfully anti-social.
“Keep Your Temper”
Though it may feel like David battling Golliath, it’s on us parents and educators to help our kids find the right proportion of social media use, and reconnect with life. FIS has this issue well within its sights and is taking steps to help students and their families find that balance, take back agency over themselves and their happiness. Like the child Alice who followed the Caterpillar’s advice on how to get out of the dream:
“Keep Your Temper.” Keep it balanced: a bite of this side of the mushroom to shrink, a bite of the other side to grow. On OnlineLand: get the proportions of online use and offline living right.
Maria Monteiro FIS Volunteer
18 FIS World May 2024