The Long-Term Effects of Covid, iPhones, Games and Social Media on Students/Children

I promised that I would share some of the responses to my invitation to teachers to share their observations about the lingering effects of the Covid years. I haven’t heard from a lot of teachers which is hardly a surprise during this energy- and time-consuming start up period in the school year. I know I would get a better yield by contacting specific teachers, but I’d rather not impose on anyone right now.

Marcus was one of the early teachers in our charter school, stretching way back to 1999. I’m delighted to know that he’s still at it. Here’s his response:

"I’m curious if you have done a piece on effects of smart phones and games/social media. I’m sure there are issues from covid but the issues from smart phones and devices I believe are exponentially bigger. Our school just implemented a no phone policy where kids have to store their phones in pouches all day (minus lunch) and so far, it’s been amazingly successful. Kids are once again talking to each other. Laughing with each other. Playing with each other and not just glued to a screen. The irony doesn’t escape me as I send this glued to a screen. I worry at times that effects of Covid can be a cover up for the effects of cellphone and devices. I even have a working theory that major league baseball batting averages are at an all-time low due to cellphone gaming and social media with the players."

No one can contest Marcus’s contention that smart phones and devices have had a profound impact on students – academically, socially and emotionally – and that perhaps some of what’s blamed on Covid is actually caused by those infernal but invaluable machines. I would say in response that it’s not either/or but both/and, particularly as you move up the age ladder. You can’t blame the phones on what we’re seeing in the early grades because the kids who were 2 or 3 hadn’t been exposed to them yet, for the most part.

I can’t resist commenting on Marcus’ baseball connection. I look at those statistics pretty regularly and have been puzzled by the fact that only 3 National League players are batting over .300. Purists will cite the proliferation of 100 mph fastballs, but who’s to say that locker room time on devices might be the cause.

Devorah is a dear friend.  She’s not a teacher, but she’s one of the most astute observers of kids that I know:

"You probably read or heard about Anya Kamenetz’s book 'The Stolen Year' about students and COVID—it is a good one on this topic. I think the effects on teachers are also worth thinking about—so many left the profession. And the missing on-boarding times for important 'extra' things—Harold (ed: her now high school-age son) missed 6th grade which is when many kids start an instrument at school. The high school band teacher told me they are still way down in their numbers.

"The richest people kept their kids in sports and music lessons but everyone else got totally screwed. And the decline in school enrollment with people who never went back is going to reverberate for years…. I will say, one of the most impressive things about Harold’s HS orientation was the art and band leaders making their plea to give it a try and 'it’s not too late.' As someone starting banjo lessons at 49, it is funny to hear that 14-year-olds think it is “too late” for anything, but the reality is many budding musicians and athletes are well on their way by then."

There are a number of interesting points in Devorah’s message. First, the delayed effect of the missed sixth grade start of musical instrument instruction is such a perfect example of the kind of land mines laid down by Covid that only make themselves known later, in this case in high school band programs. And who knows what effects will become evident even later, in the adult years.

Devorah also touches on another potentially cataclysmic event resulting from some students’ Covid school experience. The online learning without any direct human interaction didn’t work for many young people and led them to drop out of high school or college. There’s a lot of centrifugal force in such an action that propels you away from your original course. It’s not an easy trajectory to reverse. Talk about life-changing! The aggregated result of such action by significant numbers of people might surface decades from now in unaccountable data about education, employment, earnings, etc. Thank you, Devorah.

Finally, my former student Mari, who is now inspiring her own students at the University of Illinois, sent me a link to a story that appeared online at the New York Times.  Research shows that a phenomenon called cortical thinning accelerated dramatically, especially for girls, during Covid. Under normal circumstances this is a natural maturing process that, as I understand it, involves a realignment and consolidation of brain cells, but a rapid acceleration of the process – it was happening more than four times faster for girls than for boys – is associated with depression and anxiety.

One explanation for this discrepancy is that girls are much more dependent on their interactions with peers and those were severely curtailed during Covid. Many observers have noted the rise in depression and anxiety in young people, although, truth to tell, that process was already under way long before Covid. Here we need to acknowledge that Marcus’s point about the effects of screen time could be the real culprit here.

There are a lot of questions raised by this research, but the fact that there are measurable changes in brain structure that may be related to the Covid years opens many avenues of speculation about the hidden effects of that period that may surface in the distant future.

I’m still hoping to hear from teachers at all grade levels about what they’ve observed that may be attributable to experiences – or the lack thereof – during those dark years. And I don’t want to ignore one of Devorah’s other reminders to pay attention to the effects of those years on teachers themselves, including the many who left the profession as a result of the stress of that period. We need to hear more about that too.

PS. I have the book, "The Art of Screen Time," by Anya Kamenetz that Devorah recommended on order at the library. You might want to check it out too.

-Marv Hoffman