Most people today are part of a grand experiment testing how the omnipresence of information delivered through technology will affect psychological wellbeing. For adolescents, the initial results don't appear good, and puts more pressure on school systems to deal with increasing health issues of students in the digital age.
Teens' physiology that demands stimulation and places an urgency on every emotion has not changed, Blair Oaks Middle School guidance counselor Maria Stokes said at the Blair Oaks R-2 district's December board meeting.
In light of growing rates of anxiety and depression in teens, "what has changed is the climate they are becoming teens in," Stokes said. "Really, what the studies are showing is inserting that digital media piece to their lives, they can't shut it off. They can't shut it down. There's constant comparisons to other people's selfies, other people's posts, other people's drama, other people's chaos."
She said anxiety and depression in students have been on the rise for years, starting about a decade ago in high school students, though that's creeping younger.
"Sadly, 30 percent of girls (and) 20 percent of boys have a diagnosed anxiety disorder. That is diagnosed, so there's a lot that we're missing," she cited of an anxiety disorder prevalence statistic from the National Institute of Mental Health for children ages 13-18.
The News Tribune could not immediately obtain data from Blair Oaks about the specific numbers of its students who have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders or depression.
Though JCPS' Director of Special Services Bridget Frank said last week that nothing's been formally tied to technology usage, data she provided show diagnosed anxiety in particular has grown among JCPS students - more than doubling from about 1.6 percent of students in 2014-15 to 3.42 percent this school year.
The number of students with diagnosed depression grew from 1.8 percent in 2012-13 to a peak of 2.6 percent in 2015-16. It's been at 2 percent this year and last.
Those percentages might not seem like much, but they might not be the full picture, either.
"Theoretically, there could be more kids out there," Frank said, because parents self-report children's diagnoses to the district and have no obligation to do so.
The numbers presented in the district's "Inventory of Students with Special Health Care Needs" is "the best report that we have," she said.
"'They are the post-9/11 generation, raised in an era of economic and national insecurity. They've never known a time when terrorism and school shootings weren't the norm. They grew up watching their parents weather a severe recession, and, perhaps most important, they hit puberty at a time when technology and social media were transforming society,'" Stokes cited about today's teens from a November 2016 Time magazine cover story, "Teen Depression and Anxiety: Why the Kids are not Alright."
It's not necessarily that such traumas haven't affected other generations before or that today's teens are somehow more fragile than their historical forerunners, but the language in the story included "cauldron of stimulus," "over-exposed" and "hyperconnectedness." What's changed perhaps more than the kinds of national or personal events is the presence of technology and social media platforms that can deliver events' stress to people on demand.
Presumably, schools don't want to demonize technology. Blair Oaks and Jefferson City Public Schools rolled out technology initiatives this year to provide more students with access to digital content in class via shared or individually assigned devices, depending on age group.
Stokes said she wants to consider an initiative to encourage healthy screen limits at home, too.
"My overarching goal here is to create an awareness in students of good digital citizenship and healthy screen limits. Parents would have to sign an acknowledgment form that they witness what I'm going to call the 'HDA' - healthy digital act. That is how (students) get in the drawing," she said.
The drawing she spoke of is an idea to offer prizes for students who build habits like "phone-free meals, three days of only positive comments, no selfies for a week, two days without a phone or tablet, two weeks of a phone or tablet turned in to a parent or guardian by 8 p.m."
She said she got the idea for a digital health initiative from the American School Counseling Association's magazine.
The American Psychological Association recommends for children 6 years and older, parents and guardians "establish consistent limits on the time spent using media and the types of media."
The APA recommends children under 18 months old "avoid screen-based media except video chatting." Parents of children 18-24 months old "should choose high-quality programming and watch with their children," and children 2-5 years old should only experience one hour per day of "high-quality programming."
Frank said JCPS' secondary level counselors have provided students with education on social media activities. Furthermore, the district's twofold mental and behavioral health priority is trying to equip its teachers to handle concerns in classrooms while also building smaller, more intensive supports quickly accessible to students anytime they need them.
Blair Oaks' counselors said if or when students' needs surpass what a school can provide, they have a professional referral guide available for parents.