Through the Eyes of a Teacher: The Kids Are Not Alright
By Tara Hodgson
When I became a teacher, like most, I entered the profession with blind optimism. I was going to make a difference. I was going to reach the most unreachable kids. I was going to change the world.
Even though it was more difficult than I anticipated, those dreams felt possible for a while. But as my seventeen-year career progressed, changes trickled in that made the jobprogressively difficult: more kids who couldn’t focus, an influx of mental health concerns, disconnection from the outside world, and a collective attitude of apathy, to name a few. While these issues were present in every classroom, what was alarming was that they were multiplying. Where a classroom would have only a handful of these challenges in years past, now they were the norm, and the job became increasingly defeating.
And just when I thought I had control over these new conditions, Covid hit and kids were forced out of school, away from friends, and into the grips of a fully online world. When they returned, the problems had amplified even further.
But why?
Why couldn’t kids focus anymore? Why were more kids struggling with their mental health? Why were kids so disconnected?
Time and time again, my investigation has led me to the same root causes: smartphones, social media, and unlimited technology access.
At the beginning of my career, students having their own cellphones was rare. After a couple of years, flip phones appeared, followed by the occasional smartphone. It wasn’t until around 2012-2015 that it became the norm for kids to have their own smartphones, correlating with when the major challenges began.
I’ve lost count of how many adults I’ve heard say, “I’m so glad there wasn’t social media when I was a kid,” right before handing their children a smartphone, and therefore access to the entire world. But at first, no one understood what the repercussions of this could be. As teachers, we were encouraged to incorporate technology, as it was seen as a way to engage students. As time progressed, however, it became clear that kids were becoming progressively disconnected from their learning instead.
With my naïve fantasies effectively dashed, my job had to pivot. With decreasing attention spans, I became a performer rather than an instructor. How could I compete with a TikTok video? How could I pass on a passion for reading when kids were accustomed to instant gratification, and lacked the stamina to read? My lessons had to be given in bite-sized chunks in order to maintain attention; I was pivoting consistently. And the results? They decreased. Reading levels? Dropped drastically. It didn’t matter what I did or how hard I worked, I wasn’t making a difference anymore.
Not only was I now a performer, I also became a psychologist. Being a teenager ischallenging, with some universal struggles transcending time: bullying, self-esteem issues, friendship conflicts, etc. With the introduction of social media, these challenges inflated. Imagine being bullied at school all day and rather than finding reprieve at home, it follows you there, tucked in your back pocket. Not only that, but it’s with you in your bedroom at night; the taunting never ends. These issues then trickle into the classroom, making learning even more challenging.
People’s perspectives are also now controlled by an algorithm. The content being fed to our teens is disturbing. Rates of self-harm have skyrocketed, along with videos romanticizing it. Radicalized ideologies are becoming increasingly common as well, with students following extremist content creators and repeating their rhetoric in the classroom. Depression and anxiety diagnoses have become the norm instead of the exception. With kids’ daily screen times averaging in the 9 to 12-hour range, their closest connections come in the form of Youtubers, influencers, and AI chatbots rather than in-the-flesh human beings.
This has led to a vast disconnect between kids and the real world. During Covid, social media and technology were touted as tools to connect people. As a teacher, I’ve seen it achieve the opposite. We now have a generation of kids who struggle with conflict, conversation, and advocacy skills. Face-to-face interactions are less desirable than interacting with a screen. When you walk through a school at lunch, you expect to see kids socializing and laughing. In schools without cellphone rules, you’ll find them absorbed in phones instead.
The culminating result? Apathy. It is invasive in today’s classrooms. Motivation levels have plummeted because, again, education lacks the dopamine hit that one gets from technology. As a teacher, it feels insurmountable to make kids care about learning.
My helplessness has grown heavy over the years, but I see a shift coming. Schools are recognizing the importance of going cellphone-free. My young adult novels, Chasing Through Time and At Least I’m Trying, have sparked conversations about what’s happening behind teenagers’ screens.
While I’m now officially a veteran teacher, I haven’t given up on my dream of making a difference, reaching the most unreachable kids, and changing the world. I’ll keep advocating for a world where kids come first and technology comes later. A world where kids are safe from harmful online content. A world where phones take a backseat and kids become the main characters of their lives once again.
Tara Hodgson is the YA contemporary author of Chasing Through Time and At Least I’m Trying. As a long-time teacher, she is passionate about communicating the potential implications of a technology-centred world and spark necessary conversations about these impacts on teens, using her fiction to do so. She lives on an acreage in Sturgeon County, Alberta with her husband, two children, and a crew of cats and dogs. When she isn’t teaching or writing, she is reading. She loves all genres of books, but especially YA Contemporary, Fantasy, and Dystopian (but she’ll read anything, really!) She spends her down time walking, camping, boating, and relaxing at home with her family and animals.