Group Interactive Learning Resource – Emily F, Anna S, & Lina W

Group Interactive Learning Resource: The Addictive Nature of Social Media 

Group Name / Pod: Emily Findlay, Anna Smolik, Lina Worden
Submission Format: Google Docs

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1. Overview

Topic Definition
Our topic is social media and the impacts it has on young people. The main concept is the addictive design of social media. Social media platforms are intentionally engineered to keep users engaged through features like infinite scrolling, push notifications, and algorithmic content curation, this stimulates dopamine responses and creates compulsive use patterns (Montag et al. 2019). This can have negative effects on youth, and cause a decrease in life satisfaction (Giumetti & Kowalski, 2022). “The overuse of social media can actually rewire a young child or teen’s brain to constantly seek out immediate gratification, leading to obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviors,” says DeAngelis.” (Miller, 2022). This can increase mental health issues in teenagers, overall social media can cause harmful impacts on individuals that cause lasting effects.

Common Misconceptions

• That social media is used for fun and doesn’t affect certain people. 
• That social media isn’t addictive.  
• That social media doesn’t affect your mental health or mood. 

Rationale
We choose to do our project on social media because we are interested in the impacts, especially since we are psychology and sociology majors. Also because we are close to social media everyday and it plays an important role in development. Our goal is to be able to create meaningful ways to educate the generations to come on how social media can be negative or how to use it for purposeful reasons rather than just because it’s there. 

Learner Context

• Target audience: High school and undergraduate students.
  
• Background: Background varies mostly those who use social media frequently, whether they are aware of the effects or not.
• Learner needs: Could be visual or hearing disabilities and learners that speak a different language, who may need visual presentations or simple vocabulary to understand.
  

Hosting Platform

Scholarly articles through Uvic library, textbooks and tools such as WordPress, Etherpad, moodle, etc. 

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2. Learning Theory & Design

Theoretical Foundation
Behaviourism guides the design: learning is supported through repetition, reinforcement, and immediate feedback to improve correct understanding and positive behaviors. The concepts about the addictive nature of social media are introduced clearly, practiced through activities, and reinforced with feedback to shape the learning outcomes. For example, LO1 is a multiple choice quiz that returns instant feedback which supports behaviour change. This supports behaviourism by letting learners instantly monitor their progress showing them if they understand the material. With this instant feedback they can quickly adjust and progress for the next material. 

Learning Design Approach
A stimulus-response approach structures activities so that learners are taught how to identify the addictive features, practice healthy habits, and receive reinforcement to applications of learnings. Frequent formative assessments, clear criteria, and consistent feedback, ensures that new behaviours are practiced and reinforced. 

Inclusion Strategy (UDL/Cast)

• Textual explanations paired with audio narration and captioned videos to support diverse learning preferences.
  
• Interactive tasks in multiple modalities (written reflections, visual mapping, and verbal sharing) to engage different processing styles.
  
• Scaffolded supports such as guided questions, sentence starters, and habit-tracking templates to help all learners succeed.

Technology Rationale

• H5P quizzes and interactive scenarios: with instant feedback to reinforce correct recognition of addictive features (supports LO1).
• Jamboard or Google Doc: with instant feedback to reinforce correct recognition of addictive features (supports LO1).
• Video with captions + transcript: accessibility and to model strategies for intentional social media use (supports LO3).

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3. Structure of the Resource

Essential Question	Learning Objective	Content / Resources	Interactive Activities / Formative Assessment
What is the addictive nature of social media?	LO1: Understanding Addictive Features: Define and recognize the addictive nature of social media	Short video + infographic with definitions & scenarios	Multiple choice quiz: defining definitions, and core concepts (LO1 duration: 45 minutes)
How can I build habits to not be drawn to the addictive nature of social media?	LO2: Building Habits and Reflecting on Social Media: Apply planning‑reflecting strategies to build habits to not use social media as much	Habit building steps and resources from other interventions	Formative: create a pamphlet as if you were promoting an intervention to reduce the use of social media (LO2 duration: 3-4 hours)
How can I overcome the feeling of boredom and FOMO while making my social media use intentional?	LO3: Applying what you’ve learned to real life scenarios: Respond adaptively to different scenarios of social media use	Case studies: scenarios where others are facing addictive social media use	Everyone share a moment where they were using social media due to addictive features and then respond to each scenario with a strategy(LO3 duration: 2-3 hours)

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4. Assessment Plan

• Formative Assessments
  
  • H5P quiz with instant feedback (aligned with LO1)
    
  • Jamboard reflection shared in pods and facilitator feedback (aligned with LO2)
    
  • Peer-feedback activity on response strategies (aligned with LO3)
    
• Summative Assessment
  
  • Final reflective blog post (Google Doc embedded): students describe a personal challenge, demonstrate application of growth mindset and metacognitive strategies, and reflect on what they learned.
    
  • Evaluation rubric includes:
    
    • Accuracy of growth mindset and metacognition concepts (LO1)
      
    • Quality and specificity of self‑planning and reflection (LO2)
      
    • Thoughtfulness in applying adaptive responses (LO3)
      
• Grading and Feedback
  
  • Format: Pass/Partial/Fail or percentage (e.g. 20%)
    
  • Instructor provides written formative feedback on Jamboard reflections
    
  • Final blog post returned with rubric‐based evaluation and written comments
    
• Reliability & Validity
  
  • Alignment between essential questions, objectives, content, and assessments ensures construct validity
    
  • Use of clear rubric and simple, consistent criteria supports reliability of grading
    

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5. Interactive Learning Activity Example

LO3 Activity: Study Planning & Reflection

• Task: Respond adaptively to different scenarios of social media use.
  
• Reflection: After reading through the scenarios, respond to each one with a strategy or reflection on how you would change their use of social media and make it intentional rather than out of boredom or habit.
  
• Feedback: Peers provide supportive comments; instructor highlights insights.
  

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6. Bibliography

Giumetti , G. W., & Kowalski , R. M. (2022, February 19). Cyberbullying via social media and well-being. Science Direct. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X22000161 

Miller, S. (2022, June 2). The addictiveness of social media: How teens get hooked: Jefferson health. Jefferson Health – Greater Philadelphia & South Jersey Region. https://www.jeffersonhealth.org/your-health/living-well/the-addictiveness-of-social-media-how-teens-get-hooked

Montag, C., Lachmann, B., Herrlich, M., & Zweig, K. (2019). Addictive Features of Social Media/Messenger Platforms and Freemium Games against the Background of Psychological and Economic Theories. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(14), 2612. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16142612