Reasons to be cheerful

By Chris Dale Computer Science Teacher

Take a group of children and expose them to negative news and social media content every day for a week. Bombard them with stories of natural disasters, political turmoil, and economic recession. Show them images of violence, suffering, and despair. Encourage them to read about environmental catastrophes and looming threats of global conflict.

After a week of this exposure, ask the children how they feel. It is likely that they will report feeling anxious, stressed, and hopeless. They may struggle to sleep at night and find it difficult to concentrate in school. Their mood and energy levels may be low, and they may be more prone to negative thinking.

This little thought experiment highlights how badly children can be affected by the constant stream of negativity from the news cycle and social media (and also how obvious it is that they are being negatively affected). Children are not equipped to process and contextualize this information in the same way that adults are. They are more vulnerable to the emotional impact of negative news and can easily become overwhelmed and despondent. It is no surprise that we are in the midst of a mental health crisis, confirmed by Jonathan Haidt’s most recent substack article.

A recent study published in the Journal of Happiness Studies has found that optimism can be cultivated and that it is linked to better mental and physical health outcomes; according to their meta-analysis of 83 studies with over 200,000 participants. The study underscores the importance of encouraging optimism in the classroom and providing students with the tools to develop a positive outlook on life.

However, in order to encourage optimism, we must also address the pervasive negativity that students are exposed to through the news cycle and social media. When children are exposed to negative news and social media content, they can become overwhelmed and despondent. This can trigger a downward spiral of negative thoughts and emotions, leading to mental health issues.

As educators and caregivers, it is our responsibility to give children the tools to process their exposure to negative news and social media content. We must take the time to encourage positivity for the planet, for human ingenuity and most importantly- for their lives and opportunities ahead, so that children can thrive and develop a positive outlook on life. By encouraging optimism in the classroom we can help to mitigate the negative impact of the news cycle and social media on their mental health.

In my humble opinion, we spend too much time downstream of the main issues, instead, we should concentrate on identifying and addressing the root causes of distress. Dr. Willem Kuyken, Head of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford, suggests in his recent study- "Maybe what we need to be doing is not looking at the kids’ resilience, but the causes of the kids’ distress in the first place.” One crucial approach is fostering optimism in the classroom. By giving children reasons to be positive and optimistic, avoiding the overload of negative news and social media content, nurturing a positive outlook, and teaching emotional management, we can help students thrive in a complicated world. Taking these measures will pave the way for a more promising and hopeful future for our children.