Hello!
I have an opportunity to speak at a STEM camp about technology. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or tips to share with young students to promote digital wellness. Also, is it okay if I use the HTC logo/branding in my presentation slides ect?
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If you want we can do it together, I have the slides for my class, done in English and some in Italian. We can start from that and come up with an HTC lecture.
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Hi Siddhi,
I have a few thoughts.
As you know, the tech they spend significant time with should facilitate and enhance their imagination, not replace or weaken it. Helping them to be more aware and mindful of that might be a good Stem camp / HumaneTech activity.
Start by showing a clip of an astronaut struggling to walk after a couple hundred days in space (there are several out there) … and then liken imagination to neuromuscular function there - if you don’t use your imagination much for an extended period of time, it will become dull and sluggish and uncoordinated.
Then, in small groups, ask them to make 2 lists - one of tech things (games, apps, videos, sites, machines, etc.) that simply grab and hold your attention … and one of things that help you to imagine new ideas and create new things. Ask them to generate as many items in each list as they can. And then have the small groups share their lists with the whole group.
Through that activity, they will probably become a bit more mindful that a bunch of the popular and widely used tech is actually getting in the way of them continuing to build a healthy and active imagination - which would, over time, cripple their ability to innovate. And, you would be modeling your message - engaging their imaginations with activity rather than simply capturing their attention with information.
What do you think?
Keith
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@KeithFK That sounds like a really good activity! I’m definitely going to include that!
Yes! I have to do this slide show thing in a week, so I’m going to be pounding it out mostly on my own. I would love to use your slide shows as reference because you teach this material. Then we can use what we both create together to develop a sort of default set of slides for all members to use. (Maybe in two weeks we can get on a call or chat and design it with some more in depth collaboration!)
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Very simple digital wellness tips:
- Avoid anything that is media, social or not, media can be consumed rarely
- Avoid apps unless they are necessary
- Allow notifications only for direct messages
- Remove all apps from your home screen
- Try to spend time without internet, for example keep your phone on airplane mode for a few days
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Sure. Here:
Are my English slides (of last year).
Then I will traslate also the most updated ones.
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Hi Siddhi,
I’d be very interested to hear how it goes, and to hear lessons learned that might be helpful for any of us working with youth.
Thanks!
Keith
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Ahoy Siddhi,
You might look at Common Sense Media’s digital citizenship curriculum for some inspiration - when I was in K-12 education I used some of their materials.
And you might be able to use this spoken word video as a discussion starter - it was produced in collaboration with Time Well Spent, the earlier iteration of CHT. 
Vic
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Siddhi,
Another pair of lists that I think would be usefully thought-provoking for teens is the good and bad of social media … what good things happen and have happened through social media and what bad things happen and have happened through social media. In typical brainstorming fashion - as many items as possible.
Keith
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Siddhi,
This is fantastic! How old are the children/tees at the STEM camp? I have a slide show that I’ve shown Dartmouth students as well as high school students that I’m happy to share with you. My suggestion on the slides is fewer words. More images.
I really like the suggestion to make a comparison chart of plusses and minuses of social media. I hadn’t delineated the difference between too much screen time and too much social media. There’s a difference between amount of screen time and amount of screen time on social media. I also like the ideas of creating through technology vs. consuming technology.
Have you seen this interview by Dr. Jon Haidt who wrote The Coddling of the American Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGSXO0Juw8&feature=youtu.be This interview with Jon Haidt shows how powerful this work we’re all doing is, but Siddhi, the fact you are doing it as a recent high school grad is going to make the work all the more powerful with younger students.
Susan
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I’d love to join you in this! The more we can pool our resources, the better. Also, if you’re engaging with schools, it’s great to weave in Common Sense Media’s materials which are excellent!
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Sure @ssreynolds! Let’s organize a zoom call with @sidnya when we are ready!
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I will share my presentation when I’m done and we can kind of smoosh it all together!
I like to talk a lot, so I use the slides to keep me from going the wrong direction haha.
Here is what I got so far! I have one day to amp it up a bit. Sorry it is a google slides presentation!
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Hi @sidnya, I could add some links or content. Write me today if you want, we can even have a zoom call…
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Here’s one set of the new slides I translated in english:
Hi @micheleminno, @sidnya,
Can you try out jitsi for meeting/conference call? https://meet.jit.si - works straight from browser and no installation required if running from laptop. @Patm and I are trying it out to record the podcast.
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I have to present today but I will try to incorperate this verbally!
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