Mental Health, Tech, & Social Media Safety Lesson for Middle School Counseling

Do your middle school students struggle with a healthy balance of social media and technology use? Are they aware of the effects of social media use on their mental health? Social media safety and healthy tech use is an essential topic to teach at the middle school level. This middle school counseling social media and mental health lesson is thoughtfully designed to teach students how to assess the impact of their social media use, create independence goals, and discuss social media habits. Through engaging activities, they will see the effects of technology on their mental health.

For the counselor, it is low-prep and easy to implement!

This Class Lesson Includes:

• Counselor's Guide with ASCA and CASEL aligned objectives
• Detailed Outlines with scripts and supplemental resources
• Experiential "sides of the room" icebreaker to share personal social media use
• Group work to have time for unstructured play with Lego, craft supplies, etc. This initiates a discussion on play-based childhood vs a phone-based childhood.
• Group discussion to share differences they feel after free play vs after social media.
• Breakout group task cards activity where students rank tasks to complete independently in order of preference.
• Self-reflection worksheet
• Data Collection Tools: Pre and Post Lesson Self-Assessments

Benefiting Students
Learning the effects of social media and technology use and the signs of the negative impact on mental health will help prevention efforts.

Saving Time
This lesson is designed to be very low-prep and ready to use as is without any editing.

Who is This Lesson Designed For?
This Middle School Social Media and Mental Health Classroom Counseling Lesson is designed for students in grades 6-8.