It has been almost two months since a social media ban for under-16s came into place in Australia. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP
Concerns about the growing impact of social media on student mental health dominated discussion when public school officials addressed the Rotary Club of Saipan last week.
Officials discussed both the challenges facing students and the district's broader efforts to support them.
During the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, Rotarian Donna Krum asked whether the public school system (PSS) is seeing a worsening trend tied to social media use.
Mental health program coordinator Walter Mendez said social media is a big issue.
"Social media and access to information are a double-edged sword," he said.
"It allows for our students to have access to so much information, information that we've never had that much access to in the past. However, it also poses lots of risks and what we're seeing is that risk."
From the district's mental health perspective, he added, the effects often manifest as overstimulation.
"I'd say from the mental health program yes we are seeing some of those challenges," Mendez said, citing "sensory overload" and "information overload".
Mendez said schools today are addressing far more than academics.
"We aren't just teaching subjects like math and reading and sciences," Mendez said earlier in the presentation. "What we're really looking for is how do we cultivate our citizens? How do we cultivate our students and our youth?"
Mendez and counseling program manager Dr. Paulette Tomokane, both under the public school system's Office of Student and Support Services, outlined how the district is working across 20 schools in the CNMI to build resilience, teach conflict resolution, and strengthen students' social-emotional skills through multiple programs.
The mental health program itself formally began in 2020, initially tied to post-typhoon recovery efforts following super typhoons Soudelor and Yutu.
"We had such a big impact in our community, we had felt as a district we could have applied for this grant to support our students who were really suffering in the background," Mendez said. The COVID-19 pandemic later intensified the need and brought mental health concerns "to the surface", he added.
Another Rotarian, Vincent J. Seman, noted that for many students, especially in middle and high school, devices function as "electronic shackles" with cyberbullying and classroom conflicts continuing after school hours.
Mendez acknowledged that reality and said PSS is responding through its Instructional Technology and Distance Education Office, which conducts outreach on the "positive and the negatives" of device use, including warning signs of overuse and strategies to manage screen time.
"That kind of outreach information is happening at the schools," he said.
School counselors also address "the social media and the impacts and the implications of social media" during classroom guidance sessions, making digital behavior a regular topic of discussion.
"Sometimes it feels like we're a little bit behind because the challenges are right in front and it seems like we're steps behind, but we are making efforts to keep the word out so that our kids are hearing both sides of their challenges," Mendez said.
Tomakone added that outreach extends to families through the Family Engagement and Community Partnership Program.
"We're getting calls in for requests, and there's a need that we need to go out to reach parents, whether it's on how to address screen time behaviors that result from overstimulation of screens or controlling, teaching skills on how to manage social media life," she said.
Meanwhile, in the United States, there has been a landmark social media addiction trial against YouTube and Instagram parent company Meta, after a suit was brought by a now 20-year-old woman. The woman alleges the companies intentionally developed addictive features to hook young users, which she claims harmed her mental health.
Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, testified on Wednesday last week that he does not think users can be "clinically addicted" to the social media app.
