3/1/22

Ryan Hanlon
Minneapolis Public Schools
Superintendent: Ed Graff
Minneapolis Public School System
1250 W. Broadway Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55411

Dear Superintendent, Ed Graff:

Enclosed here is my proposal to create a program designed to teach kids about the dangers of
social media in their school systems. Social media can be a helpful tool when used correctly, and
I proud to present a program that can help teach kids how to safely and effectively use social
media, without harming their academic progress. It is paramount to inform kids how to navigate
the social media landscape while still taking time to focus on the important aspects of their life.

This class will be designed around the following elements:

1. Helping kids understand the issues of rumors, bullying, and teaching them about
appropriate online posts
2. Teach kids the importance of balance with social media and the important elements of
their days
3. Teach them about a few of the leading mental health problems like depression and
anxiety.

Thank you for taking the time to read through the proposal for a social media program. If there
are any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the founder of this program, Ryan Hanlon.
You can also reach out via E-mail at ryan.hanlon@ndsu.edu. I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Ryan Hanlon
Lead coordinator
Social Media Classroom Education Proposal
Submitted to:
Proposed by: Ryan Hanlon
March 1st, 2023
Abstract
With the continued rise surrounding social media, children and young adults have been
navigating this landscape without the proper education. It is pretty well documented that social
media contributes to many of the long-standing mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety.
Social media also provides a platform for cyberbullying and a fear of missing out (Commonly
referred to as FOMO). In this proposal I am looking for a grand total of $1,175. This money will
be used to find the right teachers, provide a week long course during the school day, lasting one
hour each day. This five-hour long course will provide a safe area to learn about the issues
surrounding social media, while also providing snacks and drinks. This class can potentially help
hundreds, if not thousands of aspiring students. We look forward to hearing your feedback!
Introduction

All around the world, students have been bombarded with social media as technology advances.
Social media has been a tool that has stirred a lot of debate, some good, some bad. Research has
shown that social media has its advantages while also having many drawbacks. The rise of
depression and anxiety, mixed with poor physical health, low self-esteem, and cyberbullying
point to social media being the leading cause (Mayo). This report will outline the positive and
the  negative impact of social media use, along with giving recommendations for creating a class
designed to teach about the harms and benefits of social media.

Program Proposal with Outcomes

With regards to the rising issues revolving social media, this class would help to train kids on
how to navigate this online landscape. Because social media is an ever-changing platform that
has the potential for negative effects when used incorrectly, these five sessions will be designed
to help kids understand their own mental health in correlation with what they view online. The
proposed class will be after the end of the last class of the day. The classes will be divided into
sections. The first day the instructor will focus on what cyberbullying is, how to spot it, and ways
to avoid cyberbullying. The second day will explain how to effectively manage your time in your
day-to-day life while using social media as well as teaching what things are appropriate to put
online. The third day will focus on discussing body image as well as FOMO (the fear of missing
out). The last two days will be focused solely on depression and anxiety. Snacks will be provided
during the entire session, as well as refreshments. The goal of this class is not to discourage the
use of social media but teach kids how to safely and effectively without damaging their own
mental health in the process.
 Research Methods
Search Strategy
Six online sources were gathered to obtain enough information pertaining to social media and
their effects on kids and young adults on their academic success. The sources used were from
Pubmed Central, NASP, Public School Review, Mayo Clinic, MUO, and TAS. This was
gathered using the search terms with the following: (1) Effects of social media on children and
teens in school, (2) Social media impacts*, (3) Distractions in the classroom*, (4) Depression
and anxiety amongst kids using social media*. Sources were expanded to allow for
cyberbullying, expectations of others, body image, and sleep. These were the search terms used
to help find sources relating to this topic.
1) What impact does using social media inside of a classroom pose to k-12th grade?
2) What does the literature online tell us about the positive and negatives of social media
on children and teens and their schoolwork?
3) Does social media impose a big enough distraction to kids and teens to warrant a
change in policy amongst schools?
Inclusion/exclusions
Things that were included were studies or reviews done specifically in the United States or
across many countries. Children and teens under the age of 18 were included for this research,
and public and private schools. Exclusions followed the guidelines of no adults over 18+, social
media use outside of school zones and after the schoolwork criteria has been met. Other
exclusions were incorporating social media into the classroom, as well as teachers using social
media as a learning platform and tool.

The social media issue

The Mayo Clinic took a deep dive into the facts of social media usage among teens. In 2019 they
conducted a study made up of a group of 6,500 twelve to fifteen year olds. They found that teens
spending three hours or more per day on social media have a larger risk of suffering from mental
health issues, as opposed to students who spend more time with family and face to face friends.
They suggested that there was a rapid decline in the wellbeing of the participants in the studied
group. They said that there was an urgent need for the teens to be educated about the dangers of
social media on their mental health. It explained that there exists a strong link between social
media use and depression and anxiety. They went on to say that the rapid decline of mental
health among these age groups is growing exponentially as technology continues to advance.

When social media use was starting to rapidly pick up, a 2013 study looked for general
dissatisfaction among teens. This study found that the act of simply viewing photos of people led
to a decline in their personal satisfaction, making them less happy in their own lives (Mayo).
This small fact shows how big of a difference it makes from people using social media compared
to people who are not using social media and seeing people face to face. The saying that “the
grass is always greener on the other side” is an eloquent analogy to explain the reason why the
small act of viewing someone else’s photo contributed to the decline in one’s own satisfaction in
life. There is a clear link showing that the more social media someone uses, the easier it is for
them to view someone else and see their life as better than one’s own. The more people go out
and stay away from social media, the happier they report to be. Accordingly, it was found that
teens and students who consistently post or overshare are at a much higher risk of putting their
private lives into the hands of malicious people. This can lead to harassment, bullying, and in
some cases, even blackmail.

In 2018 the Pew Research Center conducted a thorough survey consisting of about 750 people.
This group was made up of teens ages thirteen to seventeen. The study found that around 45% of
the subjects were on social media almost all the time, and that 97% of the 750 teens were online
to some extent whether on media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or YouTube. (Mayo).
Another facet of the survey chose a smaller group, with just over 450 teens. This study found
that they subjects had a strong “emotional investment” in the platforms and that being unable to
log on (due to parental control or whatever) or opposingly, using said media at night before bed
has led to an increase in depression and anxiety, as well as significant lack of sleep. This is
upwards of close to 50% of teens who use social media before bed. They concluded that once
again it would benefit teens to learn how much social media impacts their sleep and
consequently their mental health.

These studies show that social media has been on a steady rise. It’s rise has led to significant
mental health struggles amongst our youth. The Minneapolis school system needs to inform their
students of the dangers of social media and the potential harms that lie in the palms of their
hands. To further this change, we need to dig into what is leading students to use social media, as
well as why it is imperative that we change some of these habits. 

 Student involvement with social media

It is fair to assume that teens everywhere are on their phones and computers at an increasingly
higher rate each year. As the internet progressively grows, it becomes easier for teens to
communicate online with one another. This makes relationships easier to develop without seeing
someone face to face. The ability to consistently talk with family and friends no matter the
location or situation makes social media very appealing. It’s easy to understand why teens
gravitate to online forms of communication!

Some people believe that social media is all bad, and and that it contributes to the vast majority
of the mental health problems that teens have today. In some instances, that could be true,
however, with all the negatives surrounding social media, there are many positives as well.

Benefits of social media

While talking about the issues of social media, it would only be fair to cover some of the benefits
it can provide. So what are the benefits of using these communication tools? An article titled
Positive and Negative Effect of Social Media On Education written by Ajay Singh, states that
“social media and education can complement one another if used effectively. Social media is
continually developing new educational possibilities for students” (Singh). What this boils down
to is even though social media has negative connotations for mental health, it can be a valuable
tool for teens to use as they further their education.

Learning has never been more readily available than it is today. Platforms such as YouTube and
TikTok have provided a plethora of educational and easy to follow tutorials on many of the
major school subjects like math and science. And in fact even though videos are the preferred
learning method, there are also e-books, video calls, and compilations of notes online to help
push their education farther than the reaches of standard schools. Personally I am using a small
form of social media through UND to further my own education in Communications.  

Using online platforms to gather information has gotten easier as well, as the internet is
expanding at a very high rate. This helps students to more easily find tips and tricks to aid in the
solution to their problems and assignments (Singh). Teens are also able to connect to other
people and build their own group of peers to bounce ideas and solutions off of (Mayo). 
Collaborating with others is much more engaging and can lead to a level of research that is
ordinarily much harder to obtain when working alone or going to a local library.

Outside of specific school work, health and wellness platforms are important in that they help
high school students reach some of their fitness and wellbeing goals. There are a vast amount of
tools and resources available online to help teach kids about nutrition and exercise. There are
courses designed to teach about the importance of eating the right foods, how to refine eating
habits, and are catered to what works best for their own bodies. There are also many videos and
courses for virtual exercise classes, yoga, and other general forms of physical activity. Social
media can also expose teens to hobbies and activities that they may have never thought about!
Examples of this would include video production and editing, learning to code in a multitude of
computer languages, or even learning how to draw! There are many hobbies that can be applied
to an academic field using these online tools. Clearly there are a lot of advantages to using social
media, but one thing that has been proven repeatedly is that the benefits do not outweigh the
risks and detriments of social media.

Detriments of social media

As stated earlier, there is a big problem with teens using social media, and it is important to
discuss what that means. Through these articles and studies, it is obvious that is it imperative that
teens are educated about the harms that social media can impose. I would argue that that is best
done through the Minneapolis school system itself. An article written by Ben Stegner titled 7
Negative Effects of Social Media on People and Users states that “The negative effects of social
media are both physical and mental. They can change your perception of the world and yourself”
(Stegner). Now this may sound very generalized, but what Stegner is trying to relay is that social
media can not only take a toll on teens’ mental health, but it can impact them physically as well.

Stegner explains how social media can have a huge impact on the development of depression and
anxiety. A quote from this article reads “Social media lets you see the carefully selected best
parts of everyone else’s lives, which you then compare to the negatives in your own life (which
only you see). Comparing yourself to other people is a sure path to anxiety and unhappiness, and
social media has made this much easier to do” (Stegner). Everyone has fallen victim to seeing
someone they know living their best life, while at the same time scrolling on their own phone
and wishing you were them. It is a sure-fire way to put yourself down while seeing other’ lives
as nothing less than perfect.

With the introduction of social media, bullying also became much easier to do. It is no longer
necessary to wait until someone is face to face to bully them. This can be done in many ways,
and here are just a few examples. People can create a fake profile to befriend someone, only to
use this information against them later, either online or in person. According to the National
Library of Medicine, “Cyberbullying is associated with higher levels of depression, low self-
esteem, behavioral problems, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and attempts for both the victim
and the perpetrator. Between 10% and 40% of adolescents experience cyberbullying” (Memon et
al).

 Another issue that has been on the rise since social media is FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). We
all have had to miss certain activities because we were busy, but the use of social media makes
fun or exciting activities available with a click of a button. Seeing all of the events and
gatherings or constantly checking to see if anyone has invited you out leads to a higher rate of
anxiety (Stegner). Constantly checking on your social network feeds presents a much higher
chance that your friends or peers are having a better time than you are right now.

Body image is being tainted by social media as well. Almost everyone experiences issues with
their own body image, and social media has exacerbated the problem (Memon et al). Seeing
beautiful people all over the world in the palm of your hands leads young people to believe they
have to look and act a certain way. Teens need to be taught that nobody is perfect, nobody wakes
up looking like that, and there is an increasingly large amount of people who are using unhealthy
methods to achieve a better body (Stegner).

 Lastly, social media can become an addiction very quickly. If you take a poll of teens around
you, most of them cannot tell you the last time they went days without social media. Stegner
wrote “Social media can be more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol” (Stegner). The article
continues to talk about how companies design their websites to keep users attached and keep
them scrolling. The longer you stay on their site, the more money they make. This is the driving
factor that encourages companies to keep people on their websites as long as they can. The more
students can be educated on these strong impacts of social media, the easier it will be to change
many of the above issues. I have three recommendations I want to discuss to help further these
changes.

Program Objectives

Objective #1

The first day of class will be designed around rumors and reputation damages from social media.
Starting the class will be a guide on how to avoid spreading rumors and learning how to spot
what rumors are. There will also be a quiz showing what posts are classified as rumors and shall
not be spread, as well as what posts would be safe to submit online. After that information has
been discussed, the class would move on to reputation damages. This is aimed at not throwing
everything about you online, as many times posts are perceived the wrong way and can lead to
many serious issues. Showing the dangers of these posts and how detrimental to your character it
can be is the main focus of the last half of this class day.

Objective #2

The second day of class will focus primarily on keeping posts appropriate, and avoid bullying
and cyberbullying. This day will also be split up into two sections. The first half of the class will
have a lecture explaining how and why posts can be inappropriate. Often times without thinking,
people post what is on their mind. Without realizing how badly things can be taken out of
context, these posts can stick around indefinitely. This can be very harmful to you as you get
older as these posts do not just go away, even if you delete many of them. The second half of the
class will focus on bullying. This is a major issue with social media, as this medium gives an
extremely easy way to put others down without having to face them directly. During this half we
will have a small quiz to see how well people can spot bullying. The remainder of the class will
go over how to spot bullying, as well as how to avoid being the bully. Many times these posts
unintentionally put others down, and we want to show how this can harm others around you.

Objective #3

The third day will teach about FOMO. FOMO is the fear of missing out, and it has gotten much
worse with the new age of technology. This will be primarily a lecture day, going over what
FOMO is, how to spot FOMO when you see posts, and ways to deal with your mental health in
relation to potentially missing out on “the next new thing”. You can not always attend every
major social event, and it is important to teach these teens that sometimes it is okay to miss
certain activities or get togethers. Teaching these teens to understand that FOMO is a real issue,
and how it can impact their mental health is the primary lesson of today. This class will end with
a few questionnaires asking if they have felt this before, how often they feel it, and if this class
has helped them understand how to deal with FOMO.

Objective #4

The last objective will cover the last 2 days. This will focus completely on mental and physical
health. The fourth day will start with a lecture about how easy it is to become addicted to social
media. This addiction can impact many things from sleep, body image, and views of others
(primarily influencers). This lecture will really hit hard on sleep for today, as sleep is one of the
most important things we can do as humans. Being addicted to social media, especially late at
night, can impact the quality of our sleep. This can lead to many physical health problems that
stem primarily from lack of sleep. Addiction can be hard to crack and we do not expect to solve
that issue in these classes, but equipping them with the tools necessary to spot addiction and
potentially help those who are struggling with that is the overall goal of this fourth day.

The last day will continue with another small lecture about body image and influencers. It will
explain the difference between what is real and what influencers push out as “real”. Teaching
these teens about “the grass is greener on the other side” is an important issue being tackled in
this class. People strive to be what others want them to be, and seeing influencers explaining how
people should look and act is a big problem. After the lecture is over, we will hold a
questionnaire that asks if they have thought they needed to change themselves because of what
they see online. It will ask important questions to see if students feel comfortable with
themselves and if they feel the need to change to suit others. At the end of this class, pamphlets
will be handed out detailing the information covered in the classes. It will also have links to
websites designed around helping struggling teens with the issues covered in this week long
class. After the pamphlets are handed out, we will remain in the building for a few hours extra to
answer any questions privately that students may have about the information covered.

What This Information Tells Us

Social media has a major impact on the lives of teenagers. The negative impact has been studied
at great length and the facts are that it has contributed to a meteoric rise in depression, anxiety,
poor sleep cycles, a lack of self-esteem and unrealistic expectations that teens are setting for
themselves. The Minneapolis school district has been dealing with students facing both mental
health and physical health issues and are searching for answers to help combat the harmful
effects of social media (Forliti). I think this is the time to start building a curriculum around
educating and engaging students on the benefits and detriments of social media while offering a
safe space to talk to their peers. The social media problem will not be going away any time soon,
so this actionable is vital to keep these children safe.

Budget

Expenses Price

5 hour instructor fee (+ office hours) $625

Commute $100

Pamphlets + mailing $350

Food and beverage $100

Total $1,175

Communication Plan

We would like to work with the schools to provide a pamphlet to each class in the weeks
previous. We also would be sending a similar pamphlet to each household to advertise about this
free class and the details surrounding it. We would also like to mention this program during
school assemblies leading up to the class itself. Between the pamphlets and word of mouth, we
believe this will reach every student in one form or another.

About the Author of Proposal

Ryan Hanlon is a third-year student at the University of North Dakota where he is majoring in
Communications. His interest in social media began when he was working in retail in high
school. He learned how to advertise and worked closely with the owners to make sure their
business was successful.
After his retail job, he finished two years at Normandale college. He proceeded to work for five
years at a company called Trig Life Services. This company was a Healthcare education platform
designed to teach corporate employees how to navigate the intricacies of health insurance and
health care. In this company, Ryan worked to develop educational materials, create promotional
and educational videos, and run the social media platform for the company. When he is not busy
with his schoolwork, Ryan enjoys creating videos, playing games, and trying to keep up to date
with new trends in technology as well as advancements in that industry.
 References

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