Social media and personal wellbeing

Social media has increasingly become an everyday component of people's lives. Students use social media to connect with their friends. It’s important that students recognise what online behaviours might be impacting on their personal wellbeing.

Year level

7-10

Duration

60 minutes

Type

In class activity

Online learning

SEL Competencies

Self-awareness

Self-management

Responsible decision-making

Learning intention

Students evaluate their personal stressors using social media and strategies to reduce their impact.

Key outcomes

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:

understand factors from social media that make them feel upset, stressed, overwhelmed or anxious
identify strategies for feeling less stressed online.

Materials needed

Pen and paper
Access to the ReachOut.com article ‘4 signs social media is sending you into a spin’.

Mapped to

Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

Refine protective behaviours and evaluate community resources to seek help for themselves and others (AC9HP8P08)
Plan, rehearse and evaluate strategies for managing situations where their own or others’ health, safety or wellbeing may be at risk (AC9HP10P08)
Evaluate emotional responses in different situations to refine strategies for managing emotions (AC9HP10P06)

Australian Curriculum: General Capabilities

Personal and Social Capability:
- Self-awareness
- Self-management
Critical and Creative Thinking:
Reflecting
Analysing

NSW PDHPE Syllabus

Examines and evaluates strategies to manage current and future challenges (PD4-1)
Examines and demonstrates the role help-seeking strategies and behaviours play in supporting themselves and others (PD4-2)
Assesses their own and others’ capacity to reflect on and respond positively to challenges (PD5-1)
Assesses and applies self-management skills to effectively manage complex situations (PD5-9)

Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education

Investigate the impact of transition and change on identities (VCHPEP123)
Evaluate situations and propose appropriate emotional responses, and then reflect on possible outcomes of different responses to health and wellbeing (VCHPEP147)

Show details

Activity 1

Class discussion: Taking control of my social media

10 minutes

As a class, discuss the question: ‘What is the impact of using social media on an individual’s wellbeing?’.
Ask a class to brainstorm how people can reduce the impact social media has on their mental health and wellbeing.

Activity 2

Individual activity: Social media and my life

30 minutes

Ask students to draw a large cup on a piece of paper.
Explain that you are about to give two scenarios.
Ask students to record in the cup anything from the story that might make them feel upset, stressed, overwhelmed or anxious. Examples might include no battery, no wifi.
Provide students with the following scenarios:
- ‘On my way home from school, I tried to check social media but found I had no data. I didn't have any friends nearby I could hotspot to. Just before I got home, my phone died. I couldn’t go on it for two hours. When I finally got some battery I only had 2 messages and 1 notification.’
- ‘My friends and I have a group chat, which we use to plan catch-ups. I was at a family event so I didn’t check my phone for an hour. When I checked the group chat, there were a heap of unread messages. In the group chat, everyone was talking about a party on Friday, but didn’t give details. They talked about an event and another chat. I didn't have any invites to events or chats. I tried looking at the person's social media to find out what was going on but I couldn't find any answers.’
- ‘Over the weekend, State Cup touch football was on and three of my friends are in the team. All weekend they were posting photos talking about winning and how much fun they were having. They were tagging people I don't know and didn’t respond to my direct messages.’
Explain to students that everyone reacts differently to situations and events. Some people might get very upset, while others will be okay.
Ask students to identify what they could do to take items out of their cup. Write these around the outside of the cup. Examples include:
- Turn off notifications.
- Talk to family or friends if their online activities are making you feel uncomfortable.
- Leave group chats.
- Set personal usage limits.

Activity 3

Individual reflection: Social media is sending me into a spin

20 minutes

Ask students to read ReachOut.com’s article ‘4 signs social media is sending you into a spin’.
Ask students to reflect on the four signs that social media may be affecting their wellbeing:
- You’re sensing a little FOMO (fear of missing out).
- You’ve gone from curious-crush to not-so-subtle stalking.
- You’re easily distracted.
- You crave notifications.
Students select ONE of the signs.
Students create a resource (e.g. poster, image) explaining what to do if someone notices they are experiencing any of the signs. Examples might include phone-free time, turning off notifications, not checking social media when not at an event.