Technology is the world’s magic. It is crazy to me how people have figured out how to communicate through space and the world of wifi. Answers to any question can be found within seconds with the click of the google bar, phones can almost think for us, and our technology and knowledge of science and medicine teeters on the brink of a miracle. I could go on and on about the incredible technological advances that have bombarded our world. However, we all know that with great gifts come great responsibility. We all know there has to be a catch, right? We all know that there is no going back to the pre cell phone age and party lines. So how will we move forward and gain traction with our youth to use technology to build us up rather than take us down?
This question has drifted through the hallways of my mind for the past couple of years. It came from so many conversations with students, parents, and teachers about inappropriate use of cell phones and social media. It came from conversations about lack of likes and followers, hate messages, and endless selfies. This can’t be the reason we have discovered this digital age! Is this the purpose or is there something we are missing?
There are a lot of leaders out there who have figured out how to use social media to build humans up, inspire them, and give them hope. I have been a recipient of their messages and have immensely improved my overall wellness and mindset through this type of support. I know this works. I know it is hard work. I know this has to happen every day. But do our kids know? Or do we think that they are just too young for these type of messages and information? I don’t think they are. I think they can handle this, especially, now. Now is when their minds are growing and sponging any type of influence or hint of independence that they can grab hold of. Why can’t we expose our kids to education and messages on living their best life using the voices of other kids talking on social platforms? If they have a cell phone, they will use it but if we place valuable information and resources at their fingertips and make wellness cool, maybe these cell phones aren’t so bad after all.
At our school, I decided to look into this deeply and ended up with a group of student wellness leaders. We meet each week and have conversations, read, listen to podcasts, and write about the importance of building each other up, developing healthy habits, and working on a growth mindset. The students write inspirational quotes all over the school and run recess clubs for kids. They have come up with the idea to have a health cart that they will roll through the school on certain days to teach kids about nutrition and let them try a healthy snack. For the staff, the students are putting together a pop up staff room at lunch because they realized that the teachers and support staff had nowhere to eat their lunch. These are just the starting points for what this group has planned. And you know what? They have already made a difference. Slow change is still change. Forward is still forward. However, we have to provide a sense of gentle urgency in order to keep moving in a positive direction.
Now, we are taking it a step further. We know we have to educate the kids about wellness and making choices today to impact their future, however, we also need to talk to the parents. We have decided to launch our very own student podcast, called Even If You Miss. Our hope is to put out a message each week regarding topics such as growth mindset, goal setting, financial investments at a young age, time management, failure, etc. that the students have written and produced themselves. We want to inspire kids from around the world to show up every day for themselves. We want them to know that they can start right now and that this really is the cool way to tap into social media and most of all, to live your life. This is the platform that they should be liking and following. Finally, our hope is to change the world so that our young difference makers can get to work now and most of all be truly happy with who they are. We hope that parents will listen with their kids and reflect on the message and then take action to start to grow their lives to model for their children.
I am inspired by the kids in this group. I know they will get their messages out there and teach the importance of being a friend, a good person, and a difference maker. Their leadership skills have also developed and they are now working on building capacity in other student leaders.
This magical world of wifi is powerful but it’s time we shifted the waves from the business of selfies, cyberbullying and online shopping to the business of building each other up and arming ourselves with the best weapon of all, love for ourselves and each other. Check out our podcast, Even If You Miss, launching this week! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1……Blast off!
Even If You Miss..... 