According to high school students, school-related stressors are the biggest challenge to their well-being. Maybe even more than cyberbullying.

How do we empower students to navigate their lives, both online and offline, in positive and healthy ways?

Let's dive in:

• Students Tell All: What is truly impacting their mental health?
• Instagram’s new ‘Collaborative Carousel’ feature connects students through posts
• How the first executive order on AI makes the technology safer for students

p.s. Do you love The Huddle and want more ways to help students navigate current events, well-being, and social media in high-character ways? Request information about #WinAtSocial!

Weekly Huddle Topics

Students Tell All: What is truly impacting their mental health?

The Gist: Recent surveys conducted by the EdWeek Research Center shed light on a notable difference between what educators believe is impacting student well-being compared to the challenges that students say they are struggling with.

What To Know: While bullying on social media is often pinpointed by adults as the primary source of teen mental angst, the survey findings reveal a different narrative. High school students, it turns out, identify schoolwork-related stressors as their predominant mental health hurdle. This survey raises a crucial question for educators: How can we be tuned in to the stress triggers that impact our students?

TSI’s Take: When creating a plan to help students navigate daily stress, we have to take into account that schools are not the sole cause of this stress, but many students don't always feel at ease discussing stressors from their home and social life with teachers. Recognizing this reality, schools can foster an environment that not only acknowledges academic stressors but also equips students with ways to handle the pressure.

Instagram’s new ‘Collaborative Carousel’ feature connects students through posts

The Gist: One of students’ favorite apps, Instagram, has just unveiled its latest feature: collaborative carousels. Instagram carousels are posts that contain more than one photo or video, which users can view by swiping left on a post through the phone app. Instagram is now making these types of posts collaborative by allowing users to invite others to contribute photos or videos to their post, fostering a sense of community and shared experiences. 

What To Know: For educators, staying informed about social media developments, such as Instagram’s new collaborative carousels, allows them to better understand what impacts students' lives outside of the classroom. It's not just about staying informed on new social media updates, but understanding the impact these features can have on students so that educators can support and improve student well-being. 

TSI’s Take: Instagram’s collaborative carousels highlight an opportunity for students to play to their core and invite others to join them. By huddling with students on topics like collaborative posting, consent, and privacy, educators can empower students to make choices online that reflect their core values, while they collaborate and show their creativity with their friends. 

How the first executive order on AI makes the technology safer for students

The Gist: In a historic move, President Joe Biden has signed the first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence (AI). While AI can enhance learning experiences, there are concerns about privacy, discrimination, labor market disruptions, and scammers. This order aims to protect AI users from racial inequalities, deep fakes, and copyright infringement– a significant step towards making AI safer for students. 

What To Know: As technology, safety, and education continue to evolve and overlap, this new executive order will have a profound impact on schools as it creates new guidelines that will shape the future of AI and the way students navigate it. 

TSI’s Take: It's important to huddle with students about positive technology use and empower them to use tech for good, in and out of the classroom. While the government plays its part in keeping AI users safe, students should continue to protect themselves online and use technology for good.

News From Students

We huddled directly with students from across the country to find out what trends and news are at the top of their feeds. Find out what they had to share: 

1. Safety measures: YouTube Updates
2. What's new: Discord's Teen Safety Assist 
3. The latest trends: What the research tells us

Empower students to handle the pressure

Discover how to help students build habits and skills they need to handle the pressure online and offline 

From FOMO to increased levels of stress, students face the pressures of social media every day. This month, we're sharing resources and insights that empower students (and adults!) to handle the pressure. 

Watch this on-demand webinar to explore expert tips from Dr. Catherine Pearlman, founder of The Family Coach and author of First Phone: A Child’s Guide to Digital Responsibility, Safety and Etiquette, on how your school can equip students with the habits and skills they need to handle the pressure on and offline.

Platform Playbook

Equip students to navigate Snapchat in high-character ways 

When you partner with The Social Institute, educators and families gain access to our Platform Playbooks. These are curated and detailed breakdowns of the most popular social media platforms that students are using. Check out our Snapchat Playbook for everything you need to know about equipping students with winning moves to navigate one of their favorite apps.

In this Snapchat Playbook, you will learn:

• What Snapchat is and how students are using it
• The features to be aware of within the app
• Ways to encourage students to use it in positive ways

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The Social Institute empowers students to navigate their social world positively — including social media and technology — to fuel their health, happiness, and future success.