Tag: Anxiety

A Difficult Time for Everybody

Yesterday my daughter asked me, “What’s a mortgage, and why won’t people be able to pay them?” While I always enjoy discussing personal finance, this was not the kind of question I was expecting from my 11-year-old. Why was a fifth grader asking about mortgage defaults? The answer: She heard about it when the news was on last night.

We are living in an unprecedented time right now. The increase in coronavirus cases in the United States has many states and school districts across the country closing schools for an extended period of time. My state, Pennsylvania, just cancelled state testing for this school year. All of this has raised a lot of questions and has parents and educators trying to determine the best way to help students while they’re not in school.

Parents are stressed, teachers are stressed, and policy makers are stressed. Knowing how stressful the unknown is for adults, imagine what our students are facing. Adults want to keep things as normal as possible while students are not in school, but life is anything but normal right now.

There are so many great resources available online and I’ve seen wonderful ideas from both educators and parents about how to fill a child’s day from beginning to end. While all these efforts are fantastic, I wonder if some of our kids would benefit from a little less “structure” and a little more self-directed learning.

There’s been so much talk over the last few years about maker spaces, Genius Hours, and other activities where students have more control over their learning. Is this the perfect time – while “school” is so up in the air – to let students choose what their learning will look like for even an hour a day or maybe an entire day?

When my daughter asked me about mortgage defaults, I realized we needed to take a step back and let her be a curious kid for the day. I wanted her to try and forget about all the uncertainty happening outside our house. Instead of the math, ELA, and science lessons we’ve done the last few days, today we explored an interest she’s had for a couple months – stop motion animation. We found some videos online, downloaded a recommended app, and spent the entire afternoon, and some of the evening, creating stop motion animation movies.

Our family room became an instant video studio.
One of the first problems we encountered was how to keep the iPad from moving. My daughter’s solution was to put it on the mantle. Not bad problem solving.

As we worked on her project, Anna realized pretty quickly that this was challenging work. She had to learn how to use the new app, develop a storyline, create all the visual elements, and solve problems along the way. We did not talk about factors and products, compare the theme of two stories, or determine the impact humans have had on ecosystems. And for today, that was okay, and I think it was just what she needed. In fact, I think it’s what more of our kids need right now.

This is my daughter’s first stop motion animation.

Types of Anxiety in Children

You’re in the middle of a lesson and a student named Jonathan approaches you. He complains of a stomach ache. It’s the middle of cold and flu season, so you send him to the nurse’s office. He comes back a few minutes later with a note saying there is no fever and no other symptoms. What is causing Jonathan’s stomach pain? There’s a chance it could be anxiety.

Anxiety is a growing concern for children in and out of school. According to the National Institute of Mental Health anxiety disorders affect almost 1 in 3 children. Females are affected more than males.

  • An estimated 31.9% of adolescents had any anxiety disorder.
  • 8.3% of those children had a “severe” impairment.
  • The prevalence of any anxiety disorder is higher for females (38.0%) than for males (26.1%).

A growing number of adolescents are experiencing anxiety disorders, but what exactly is making students anxious? Here are some examples of anxiety disorders provided by the CDC:

  • Separation anxiety – Fear of being away from a loved one, especially a parent;
  • Phobias – Extreme fear, such as fear of dogs;
  • Social anxiety – Fear of being in places where there are people;
  • General anxiety – Worrying about the future and what could go wrong;
  • Panic disorder – Sudden, unexpected, intense fear with heart pounding; having trouble breathing, or feeling dizzy, shaky, or sweaty.

With nearly one third of children having some anxiety symptoms, it’s important for educators to know what symptoms look like. Not all children will present anxiety in the same way, but the following list outlines some symptoms to look for in anxious students:

  • Agitation
  • Restlessness
  • Inattention, poor focus
  • Somatic symptoms like headaches or stomachaches
  • Avoidance
  • Tantrums
  • Crying
  • Refusing to go to school
  • Meltdowns before school about clothing, hair, shoes, socks
  • Meltdowns after school about homework
  • Difficulties with transitions within school, and between school and an activity/sport
  • Difficulty settling down for bed
  • Having high expectations for school work, homework and sports performance

So, it is a good possibility that Jonathan does have the cold or flu. He could be worried about being away from his parents or suffering from social anxiety.

Smartphones and Anxiety

A couple days ago my daughter was playing the piano for her grandparents. They love listening to her play songs she’s learning or old recital numbers. At least twice a week she’s playing for them after dinner. What makes this a really remarkable feat is that my in-laws live six hours away in New England. They’re able to watch and listen to my daughter play because of FaceTime.

Do I worry about the impact smartphones and other devices will have on my daughter as she gets older? Sure, I do. I’m a parent, so I pretty much worry about everything. It’s part of the job. But I also know that there are some amazing things this technology can do for my ten-year-old daughter – playing the piano for her grandparents, virtual field trips, research at the tip of her finger.

Just this week I was involved in a discussion about the rise in student anxiety across zip codes, socio-economic status, gender, and race. The common consensus among those involved in the conversation was that technology was to blame.

New research, however, is challenging that line of thinking. The researchers, lead by Candice Odgers, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, believe that devices are not the sole culprit but are just shining a light on an underlying mental health problem a child would have even without smartphones.

After reviewing other studies and data available, the researchers stated, “The review highlights that most research to date has been correlational, focused on adults versus adolescents, and has generated a mix of often conflicting small positive, negative and null associations.” Correlation does not equal causation. Just because the increase in smartphones and mental health problems in the United States happened at the same time, doesn’t necessarily mean one causes the other.

Some evidence to support such a claim can be found across the Atlantic. Larger parts of Europe have seen an equal increase in smartphone use without an equal increase in anxiety and other mental health disorders. If the smartphone was the problem then these parts of Europe would see an increase in anxiety comparable to the United States.

According to the study, the United States has been an outlier in suicide rates worldwide. Every adolescent age group in the U.S. has seen a rise in suicide deaths from 1999 to 2017. The greatest increase has been among girls 10-14. This group has seen rates triple during that same time. Worldwide, suicide rates have dropped during this same time period.

So what, other than smartphones, could be contributing to an increase in anxiety and mental health concerns? Jeff Hancock, founder of the Stanford Social Media Lab, offered some other possibilities for what might be making our kids anxious: climate change, income inequality, or rising student debt.

“The current dominant discourse around phones and well-being is a lot of hype and a lot of fear,” Hancock said, according to the New York Times. “But if you compare the effects of your phone to eating properly or sleeping or smoking, it’s not even close.”

Are there drawbacks to an increase in technology at our kids’ fingertips? Sure. We obviously don’t want children so involved on their devices that they don’t go outside and get exercise or have healthy conversations with people. This research, however, argues that the smartphone might not be the real reason children are more anxious.

We should still allow our children and students to have access to devices, but we need to have conversations about using them appropriately. Like any technological advancement, there are benefits and drawbacks. We just need to make sure we truly understand both.