Teens Fight Impact Of Social Media On Self-Esteem With Positivity

MORICHES, NY — William Floyd Middle School students are learning to counteract what some say are long-term, negative impacts of social media with positive interactions and self-affirmations.

Students in Donna Scalfani's eighth grade "Social Media & Society" class at William Floyd Middle School analyzed a September article on the topic in the Wall Street Journal that examined the connection between social media and self-esteem and suggested that platforms including Instagram might be "toxic" to teens.

Facebook, meanwhile, decried the report and said Instagram’s research shows that "on 11 of 12 well-being issues, teenage girls who said they struggled with those difficult issues also said that Instagram made them better rather than worse. . . This research, like external research on these issues, found teens report having both positive and negative experiences with social media."

Pratiti Raychoudhury, Facebook's vice president, head of research said internal research is done to find out "how we can best improve the experience for teens."

After studying the article, the eighth graders partnered up with school counselor Taylor Buckley and the sixth grade English department to promote "positive self-talk" in the halls of the middle school.

“Connecting the upperclassmen with the lower classmen was a great way to get that peer-to-peer connection we need to make an impact in our halls," said Buckley.

As part of the exercise, the eighth graders wrote letters to sixth-graders about the importance of practicing positive self-talk.

The sixth graders then decorated mirrors with positive affirmations they and fellow members of the student body could see and repeat to themselves every day.

“This display is prominently placed near the cafeteria doors so students can see uplifting thoughts each day as a reminder of how amazing they are,” Scalfani said.