Getting Social

As part of Chatham Hall’s Living Well initiative, the School has partnered with The Social Institute to offer short lessons to each Advisory. The Social Institute offers a gamified online platform for social emotional learning and positive technology use so students learn how to be responsible online.

“When you’re fifteen- or sixteen-years-old, what you post will stay online in some capacity forever,” said Dean of Students Marin Miller, co-chair of the Living Well initiative. “We decided that it was time to put a program in place to start educating our girls so that they could better navigate the digital world.”

Laura Tierney, founder and CEO of The Social Institute, said, “every day, students are affected by amplified social pressures on social media and technology, and it’s impacting their social-emotional health and future success. We’re proud to lock arms with the Chatham Hall community to examine and break down everyday experiences and opportunities to help students navigate social media and technology to prepare for college, internships, and future careers.”

Every other week during the Advisories’ Wednesday morning Cookie Breaks, students engage in a 15- to 25-minute lesson and conversation about an aspect of their digital lives as it relates to social emotional wellness.
A winter 2021 lesson focused on screen time asked students to estimate their average daily screen time and how many times they pick up their phones. All of the students in Miller’s Advisory dramatically underestimated their phone use, some by as much as 50%. “[After checking their screen time] they were all like, ‘maybe I need to be a little more conscious of how many times I’m picking up my phone or how long I’m spending online during the day,’” she said. “It’s something small, but it’s an awareness that they’re taking away from the lessons.”

Another lesson showed students how social media can act as a reinforcing loop, only showing similar content and not introducing them to different ideas and perspectives. “That’s something that not all of our students really fully realized,” Miller said. “They think of social media like Instagram or TikTok as things to just kind of scroll through as they’re passing the time, not really realizing that it’s tracking their every like, their every comment, and then through their algorithm trying to give them all of that same stuff over and over again.”
In January, a lesson centered on the presidential inauguration and how students could have productive conversations with others, even if they disagree. “It was really nice that it was focused on what’s actually happening in the world right now versus some random social emotional topic that you could touch on anytime,” said Kirsten Blaesing, associate director of residential life for student initiatives.

The timeliness of The Social Institute’s lessons was one of the reasons Chatham Hall chose its curriculum. Another reason: lessons are created with real teens to ensure relevance and avoid talking down to students. “That was really important to us to make sure that we are covering real issues that they’re dealing with,” Miller said.

The Social Institute also created an online toolkit for parents. “They have these playbooks that summarize what apps their kids might be using, what they might be using them for, and how other people use them,” Miller said. “It also gives them tips about how to build trust with their kids and stay ahead of things.”  

These discussions have already prompted Raifah Alam ’22 to think more critically about what she posts online. “We talk about how to be smart and responsible on social media, and who might be looking at you there, like colleges you’re applying to,” she said. “We talk about what the line is between appropriate and inappropriate, and it helps you have a good social media personality. It makes you think about how you represent yourself and how you represent your school and the people you stand for and your teams – everything.”
Since starting The Social Institute’s curriculum last fall, social media incidents at Chatham Hall have decreased, according to Miller. She says that improvement is especially notable at a time when “nationally, a lot of students are virtual and basically only engaging through the digital world.”

Beyond reducing negative interactions on social media, the curriculum is also sparking deeper discussions between students and advisors. “I think it has allowed our students a space to kind of have difficult conversations,” Blaesing said. “Before this, we didn’t really have a space or a time to really kind of open up and have these conversations. It’s giving them room to flesh out how they feel about different things.” She added that The Social Institute lessons gives students a chance to feel heard by each other and their advisors.
Eva Melendrez ’23, agreed, saying the lessons “really give us an opportunity to connect with other students and our advisors. We can talk about issues that maybe we wouldn’t talk about in class. For example, I really liked the conversation we had about how to talk to people with different viewpoints.”

Ellery Blurton ’24, said, “my favorite thing about Social Institute is that it brings more of a positive spin to social media and teaches us that we can use social media for good and to spread awareness of important issues.”

As Chatham Hall students advance to college and beyond, they will have less and less guidance and oversight of their online activities, so Miller hopes that these lessons will give them the tools they need to engage responsibly and set healthy boundaries around technology. “I truly hope that this will help them become better digital citizens,” she said.  

Originally published in the Spring 2021 Chat.