Neuroscientist Maren Urner explains in an interview what consequences the daily flood of media has on students. She shows ways in which teachers can respond to this in order to strengthen children and young people.
A number of trends can be observed in the media world – traditional media are losing importance and credibility, social media is over-present, the flood of negative news seems unstoppable. What does that do to the students?
A lot! I’ll try to name a few aspects. First of all, there is continuous availability. The internet and smartphones create constant pressure, combined with questions like: What could I be missing? When do friends react to my post, my story, my video? Study results show that the mere presence of a smartphone ensures that it takes up some of your attention. This makes it difficult for young people in particular – for whom certain areas of the brain are not yet fully developed – to really concentrate on one thing. At the same time, long periods of social media use ironically correlate with feelings of loneliness and mental illnesses such as depression.
In addition, the negativity mentioned can promote the behavior of so-called “doomscrolling”. This refers to an addictive consumption of negative news, which in turn can lead to an overly negative world view and helplessness in this crucial phase of life.
How can you make students more resilient against the flood of media that bombards them? What specific, practical ideas do you have?
The most important point here is actually – and it sounds simple, but it isn’t – a conscious approach to your own attention. In other words, it’s about developing a sensitivity to when and how I as a student deal with the wealth of information. The best way to do this is to have an honest and respectful exchange with others. In order to be able to do this, parents and teachers not only need knowledge of the currently popular platforms, apps and offers, but above all also an emotional maturity that allows them to inquire about the motives behind the students’ media use address. In practical terms, the beginning and end are always about habits that children (and adults) can best learn through play. For example, a game can be created to test who can go the longest without looking at their cell phone during a date – whoever “loses” might have to buy an ice cream or provide some other “stake”.
From your personal perspective, what can and should schools do here – and what is not the school’s job?
School can be a place where the habits mentioned are “suggested” and “practiced.” This may sound a little technical, but it is a very important aspect because school is an important social and communicative place. In other words, a lot of it is about what is “normal,” who “belongs” and how to use smartphones, the Internet and social media is “correct.” It is central to take the needs of the students and their living environment into account and not to act with a raised finger. In case of doubt, this will have the opposite effect of conscious handling.
How can you get students excited so that they don’t lose sight of the classic journalistic media?
Here too, various actors play an important role. Of course, traditional media must offer content and formats that reach and touch young people. A lot has gone “wrong” in the past, because, for example, “for young people” was produced by “old” people – the youth word “cringe” applies to many of the results that resulted.
Then, of course, it is also important to use classic journalistic media at home, i.e. to integrate them into everyday life as “normal”. This doesn’t always have to be the daily news, but here too, common routines with journalistic offerings from quality houses are important.
And – last but not least – schools also have a corresponding role to play. What sources and media are used in teaching? And which contributions were analyzed and cited? Do they have any connection to the students’ everyday lives? Finally, a personal anecdote: I learned about the printed magazine “TIME” through my English teacher in high school and have had a subscription to it since I was a student.
To person
Maren Urner is a neuroscientist and has been a professor of media psychology at the Media University of Applied Sciences in Cologne since 2019. Her three books “Stop the daily end of the world” (Droemer 2019), “Out of the eternal crisis” (Droemer 2021) and “Radically emotional: How feelings make politics” (Droemer 2024) are SPIEGEL bestsellers. She is the winner of the BAUM Environmental and Sustainability Prize 2023 in the science category. On September 1, 2024, she accepted the position as professor of sustainable transformation at the Münster University of Applied Sciences and will be the head of the new program Master’s degree program “Sustainable Transformation Design”.
Text: Antje Tiefenthal
Photo: Leah Franke