Who are We On and Offline? (15-20 mins) 

Students work collaboratively. 

1. Educator hands out Post-its.
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2. Stand at the board and ask your students about the differences between communicating online and communicating in-person. 
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3. Create a chart with each of the below questions with the head “Online” and “Offline” and “Both." Or a chart with just Online and Offline, and then see if your student ask for a “Both” category.
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4. Pose below questions one at a time. Some sample situations: 

Most often, how do you meet and make new friends?

Most often, how do you deal with conflicts with friends or peers? 

Most often, how do you approach to someone you’re interested in being friends with or whom you're interested in? 

Ask students to reflect: why does the way we interact with people change so much depending on whether we’re on or offline? 

Key Learning: Students model self-awareness and investigate their own on and offline habits.

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More topics, discussion questions and movie clips relating to "Who are We On and Offline?":

Risky choices
‍A student named Hannah sends a nude to a boy she likes. It gets shared around school and she is harassed by her peers relentlessly, making her feel ostracized and depressed. Although she initially keeps this from her mom because she’s worried about disappointing her, Hannah eventually does tell her mother when she realizes she can’t handle the situation alone. Together, they work on addressing the issue.

Here is a clip from Hannah's story:

Do you think you speak to people the same online and in person?

If you were in Hannah’s situation, would you ask your parents for help? 

Do social media conversations feel private to you? What about texts? Why? 

Do you feel safe on social media? 

Physical appearance and social media

In this clip, Delaney talks with some girls about the pressures of being on social media.

Delaney speaks to another student, who explains how stress over her self-image seems to take over everything else in her life in this clip.

How important is your social media identity?

How much do you enjoy being on social media? 

Do you relate to any of the girls' statements? 

Digital footprint

Every time we use the internet, we add to a trail of permanent data that we’re leaving behind. Your digital footprint is made up of the websites in your search history, emails you send and photos you post, among other things. This means that the things we send or post are never completely private. Once you create something online that other people have access to (even if it’s a small group of people), that content is no longer completely in your control.

And beyond the things we intentionally put on the internet, our digital footprint is also comprised of the products we browse and different data collection methods that websites use, like cookies. It’s important to be aware of what our digital footprint looks like because it can impact our reputation on and offline.

Scams like phishing, where hackers try to get sensitive information from their victims by posing as a trustworthy source, can be easy to fall for and sometimes target young people. It’s also important to be aware of internet data collection and what websites do with the data they collect.

How do you regulate who follows your social media accounts?

Have you or anyone you know ever had an experience with an internet scam?

What do you know about internet privacy, permanence and data collection?

Positives of social media

Delaney talks with her daughter Tessa about her online life, and considers how often physical appearance is emphasized online. “But,” Delaney adds in this clip, “there was also a lot more positive communication than I guess I had expected."

How do you use social media to connect with friends and family? 

Social Media Investigation (40 mins, potential homework assignment)

Students work collaboratively.

1. Split students into small groups of about 5 kids each.
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2. Have each group conduct some brief research and analyze one of the following apps: Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter or TikTok. They should spend around 15 minutes researching. (Depending on your rules, students should do this activity for homework if they are not allowed to use devices in the classroom. If they are allowed to use their devices in the classroom, they might open the app or conduct research on the internet.)
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3. They should look closely at the app’s features and consider reasons for including certain features. For instance, why does Instagram have a like button and a comment feature? Why does TikTok have a page that is tailored to content the app thinks you’ll be interested in?
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4. Students should come up with an effective way to present their findings to their classmates, whether it be through a poster, digital slides, a video, or another means.
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5. Ask the students to come back together and share their findings and speculations. Ask them if this exercise changed what they think about these apps.

Key Learning: Students get practice in researching and collecting data and consider how to best present content to a specific audience.

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More discussion questions relating to "Social Media Investigation":

Usage realities

How much time do you think you spend on social media in a week?

How much would you say you enjoy social media? 

Many teenagers spend a deal of hours on screens for entertainment, some spending the majority of their free time looking at screens. 

Creating a Non-Addictive App (30 mins)

Students work individually. 

Social media is designed to be addictive. If you were to design a new social media platform with the goal of making sure it is not addictive, how would you do it? Write out the features you’d include in your app and why they might deter users from becoming addicted.

Key Learning: Students utilize empathy and understanding and brainstorm solutions to a massive societal problem.

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More topics, discussion questions and movie clips relating to "Creating a Non-Addictive App": 

The reality of video game addiction

Andrew and his family share their story of Andrew’s addiction to video games. Though he had been a good student through high school, Andrew had to drop out of college after his first year because he failed all his classes.

Internet and video game addiction is a growing phenomenon worldwide. Andrew’s college education was disrupted by it, and his whole family was affected. He ultimately went to a rehabilitation center for those who have video game / social media addictions called reSTART. 

Have you experienced or encountered screen addiction among people you know?

Before hearing Andrew’s story, did you know that screen addiction exists? Did learning about Andrew’s experience surprise you at all? 

What about video games / screens in general make them so addicting?

Andrew explains how his video gaming took time away from his piano.

Do you relate to Andrew at all? Is there anything in your life that you used to love that technology has replaced or taken time away from?

Andrew is not alone. Video game addiction is as real as any other addiction, according to experts.

In this clip, Cosette Rae, the founder of reSTART, explains how a video game addiction triggers the same neural pathways as a substance addiction.

Research psychologist and educator Dr. Larry Rosen reiterates in this clip that video game addiction is as real as any other addiction.

What Do We Play? (10 mins) 

Students work individually. 

Look at the list of top-selling video games of 2021. If you’ve played any of them, write down how you think they impacted you next to their name on the list. Did playing the game change your mood? How long did you spend on it? Do you feel like you had more control over it or like it had more control over you?

Top 10 selling video games in 2021

1. Call of Duty: Vanguard
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
3. Madden NFL 22
4. Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
5. Battlefield 2042
6. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
7. Mario Kart 8 
8. Resident Evil: Village
9. MLB: The Show 21
10. Super Mario 3D World

Key Learning: Students exercise self-awareness by investigating their own video game habits.

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More topics, discussion questions and movie clips relating to "What Do We Play?": 

The impact of violence in video games

Child development researcher Dimitri Christakis, MD, reminds us in this clip that all media is educational.

If you play video games, do you think you learn anything from the ones you play? If so, what? 

Though we are unsure if violent video games directly influence gamers to be more violent, we do know that the violence in these games can desensitize players to violence in the real world. When we see violence over and over again, our brains become used to it and it no longer shocks us in the way it did the first time.

Does what Christakis shared about violent video games and the military surprise you? 

Video games and empathy

In this clip, Christakis draws attention to the way that video games impact the way perceive violence, and therefore the way we experience empathy.

However, in this clip, psychology professor Sherry Turkle, PhD, reminds us that empathy doesn't have to disappear forever. It can be restored if we change our habits overtime.

Screen Time Tracking Chart (homework assignment) 

Students work individually. 

Ideally, students will fill out this chart over the course of one week to track their screen time habits.

Bonus Points: see if they can get their guardians to chart their screen time too. 

At the end of the week, discuss as a class.

How do you feel about the amount of time you spent on screens this week?

What type of screen time did you log the most? 

Key Learning: Students will track their own habits and get a deeper understanding of how they use tech.

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More topics, discussion questions and movie clips relating to "Screen Time Tracking Chart":

Can you recognize signs of gaming addiction? You can find an Internet Addiction Test on our website.