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As our devices keep us ever more connected but paradoxically isolated from each other, today’s youth will undoubtedly follow the trend of their predecessors — Generation Z or Gen Z — of being one of the loneliest generations. With lockdowns occurring around the world to combat Covid-19, our adolescents are facing even more challenges to authentically socialize and relate with their peers.
What can our education system do to help our youth connect to one another, and in turn, themselves? Perhaps studying and reflecting on how the adolescent brain works and what it needs could hold the key.
A national survey by health company Cigna showed that young adults (aged 18 to 22) in the United States ranked the highest in loneliness back in 2018, and those were pre-pandemic days. Almost 80 per cent of Gen Z (those born roughly from the mid-1990s to around 2010) admitted to feeling disconnected and having the least social interactions. Millennials (those born in the early 1980s to the mid-1990s) ranked second behind Gen Z on feeling alone. With these statistics coupled with a global pandemic, it may seem evident that our Generation Alpha (those born in the early 2010s) may seem set to be the loneliest of them all.
With these results, how can our next generation be prepared to counteract potential loneliness?
“The curriculum focuses on how the brain learns and develops.”
One example of a curriculum changing to meet the needs of learners, and in turn, their wellbeing, is with Fieldwork Education. The International Middle Years Curriculum (IMYC) has begun to implement health and wellbeing strategies into the learning process. The curriculum focuses on how the brain learns and develops during the adolescent years and is designed to support and improve their learning through this critical time. Fieldwork Education’s curriculum has been designed with six needs of the adolescent brain known as IMPART: interlinking learning, making meaning, peers, agency, risk-taking, and transition.
With interlinking learning, neuroscientific research identifies that the brain learns by making connections between brain cells. When confronted with new experiences or information, the brain seeks previous learning and tries to link the new information with any previous information it has stored. The brain learns “associatively”, always looking for patterns and linking to previous learning, known as “interlinking learning”.
Another need is making meaning of learning. This is particularly important during the teenage years as research indicates a risk of important connections or learning being lost as part of the teenage brain “pruning” process. During puberty, it has been identified that the brain goes through a “pruning” process where some connections are lost.
“School at this time is where relationships can be fostered and self-worth increases.”
Peers are another important need of the teenage brain and in turn, critical for health and wellbeing. During adolescence, the brain is wired in a way that makes social connections more rewarding. School at this time is where relationships can be fostered and self-worth increases. As online schooling limits opportunities for students to be social and connect, this need of the teenage brain is starved and could lead to loneliness increasing for our youth.
Along with peers, agency is another need of the teenage brain. There is much research to demonstrate that agency is one of the most important contributors to both success and happiness. Having the belief that we can influence our own lives predicts many positive outcomes, including better health, lower stress, and higher emotional well-being.
And with agency comes a level of risk-taking as a need for the teenage brain. Adolescents who have made risky decisions generally understood the risks they were taking but valued the perceived reward more highly than the risk (this is linked to them greatly valuing social connections). Understanding how teens make decisions indicates that we need to create opportunities for them to practise taking risks during the learning process in a safe environment.
“Transitions can be lonely and challenging, but they can be made easier.”
The last need of the teenage brain is transition. Transition refers to changes experienced by a learner because of progressing from one learning context to another. This could be the transition from different school environments or moving out of middle school and into the exam-focused years where the stakes are higher. Transitions can be lonely and challenging experiences, but with the right strategies and education, they can be made easier.
Looking at surveys on loneliness and current changes in curriculum, education in and around exploring neuroscience and mental health is a move in the right direction for schools around the world.
As mental health education becomes even more of a necessity during these challenging times, students can, in turn, develop tools and strategies to deal effectively with conflict, stress, risky behaviours, and yes, even loneliness now and in the future.
With the rise in feeling alone and disconnected with young adults, let us hope the trend of loneliness starts to change for our youngest generation. Their happiness, success, and ultimately their futures depend on it.