#SocialMediaDetox

#SocialMediaDetox

Saturday, May 4th, 2024

How do you promote a Social Media Detox Challenge? On social media, of course! 

“Since I deleted Snapchat for the challenge, my phone was really quiet for a whole week, it was pretty nice.”

– ISB student after completing the Social Media Detox Challenge

Called one of the most pressing issues of our time, International School of Beaverton (ISB) Social Worker Evan Robbins was ready for the monumental task of asking teenagers to consider giving up social media. Evan worked with two ISB seniors to create a 7-day “Social Media Detox” challenge with the goal of encouraging the ISB community to have a healthier relationship with social media by increasing awareness of social media dependence by students, their families and ISB staff.

Evan knew he would have to use the very thing he was asking students to do without, social media, to promote the challenge to middle school students, high school students, ISB staff and ISB households. Along with social media posts, posters in the school hallway promoted the week-long detox challenge. The recruitment worked, and 170 students and staff, along with 25 households, signed up for a week off from social media. A combination of curiosity and prizes helped motivate the recruits to join in the experiment. 

“We could not have done this without BEF,” Evan explained. “The community’s support for our project was huge and encouraged even more students and families to join the challenge.”

In the end, post-detox survey responses revealed that participants felt positively about the experience and gained valuable insight about their social media use – 61% of respondents said the challenge led them to think differently about their social media use and 24% said they were likely to lessen their use going forward. Many students reported having more time to do things, like school work. 

“The social media detox made me realize how much time I spend on social media aimlessly scrolling, and how much time I’m wasting doing so.”

“Overall I accomplished more work than I normally would.”

“I really appreciated how I got my time back, I had been meaning to go off social media and this was the push I needed.”

A growing body of research has shown social media use to have negative effects on mental health, especially among adolescents, with links to depression and anxiety. Inspired by the response he received this year, Evan is already planning to build on the success of this challenge and make adjustments for another challenge next year. 

Supporting innovative approaches to educational challenges are at the core of BEF’s mission. By sharing the ISB community’s experience, Evan’s leadership offers an opportunity to expand the impact of this singular effort into other schools and to reach more Beaverton students in the future.