Media releases

• Cellphone ban won’t address mental health, classroom concentration issues, say Brock experts

  Monday, April 29, 2024 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: April 29 2024 – R0057

  While a ban on cellphones in Ontario classrooms will temporarily keep them out of students’ hands, the move will do little to support the mental health of youth across the province, say Brock University experts.

  Assistant Professor Naomi Andrews in the Department of Child and Youth Studies says that while limiting cellphone use in schools might reduce in-class distractions, it won’t address many of the underlying problems that impact the mental health of children and youth.

  “The focus seems to be on implementing a ban, and then enforcement — what the penalties and consequences are for not adhering to the policy — but that is not getting at the root causes of youth’s struggles concentrating in the classroom, such as mental health issues, peer relationship struggles or social media addiction,” she says. “Simply banning cellphones is not going to address all of these challenges, nor will implementing punishments for students who don’t adhere.”

  Andrews, who directs Brock’s Andrews Relationships Lab and is part of Brock Research on Aggression and Victimization Experiences (BRAVE), also says that banning cellphones could miss the mark when it comes to targeting the harms of cyberbullying.

  “Bullying in online contexts has the potential to be more problematic than bullying in person for many reasons, such as the chance for bullies to remain anonymous and reduced empathy caused by not being able to see the target’s response,” she says. “However, there is overlap between cyberbullying and in-person bullying, so bullying is going to persist in the classroom despite not having access to cellphones, and it is going to continue after school or on other devices.”

  For Andrews, the key is “to focus on building healthy relationships among peers.”

  “More attention needs to be paid to the underlying causes of these issues and supporting students in gaining critical competencies: social-emotional learning skills, social media literacy and relationship skills,” she says.

  Professor David Hutchison in Brock’s Department of Educational Studies says parents, teachers and social service providers all have an important role to play in supporting young people’s mental health.

  But, at the centre of that conversation should be the youth themselves.

  Hutchison says youth should be part of the conversation about the effects of social media and cellphone use on their personal lives.

  “Schools should work to create safe spaces for students to discuss how social media and cell phone use intersect with their social identities and feelings of self-worth,” he says.

  He believes schools can serve as common social spaces for teachers and upper elementary and secondary school students to discuss the reasons behind the cellphone ban, its goals, and the pros and cons of such a mandate.

  “In addition to cellphone use, the stresses of the post-pandemic era are also a significant contributor to young people’s mental health issues,” Hutchison says. “Banning cellphones in schools is not a remedy for all the mental health issues many youth are experiencing.”

  For young children in particular, meaningful interaction with physical materials in the real world — including nature — is key to healthy developmental growth, he adds.

  Naomi Andrews, Brock University Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies, and David Hutchison, Professor in Brock’s Department of Educational Studies, are available for media interviews on the topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Maryanne St. Denis, Manager, Content and Communications, Brock University mstdenis@brocku.ca or 905-246-0256 

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  Categories: Media releases

• Taylor Swift sparking conversations about sexism, history and the price of fame, say Brock experts

  Friday, April 26, 2024 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: April 26 2024 – R0054

  Her name is known all too well, but her methods come with some surprising lessons, say experts from Brock University.

  Taylor Swift has long solidified her position as a pop megastar, but her recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, has sparked conversations that go well beyond the realm of music.

  Her latest release shines the singer-songwriter in a new light, one that is resonating with teens and young women in a different way, says Brock Child and Youth Studies Professor Shauna Pomerantz.

  “There’s been a shift from sympathetic underdog Swift to powerful overlord Swift,” she says. “This album is angry. She’s tapped into something new and is showing teen girls and young women that it’s OK to express that anger, to express feminist feelings and to fight back when you’ve been hurt, whether by individuals or society.”

  Pomerantz believes much of the criticism that’s been hurled at Swift over the past week since the album’s release has been rooted in both sexism and ageism.

  “She is criticized in a way no man is ever criticized,” Pomerantz says, with focus placed on the need to “act her age” — 34 — and to get over the heartbreak-laden language that has permeated her songs.

  That criticism has highlighted a lack of understanding of what women may be going through in the social media era, she says.

  “There’s a valuable lesson here about showing your emotions without fear of what people are going to think — and say — about you.”

  Pomerantz says Swift is caught between two disparaging positions for women and is criticized for both being too powerful in the industry and also for expressing feelings of being powerless in her personal life.

  “She can’t win and she knows it,” she says. “The album seems like a throwdown to those criticisms and the impossible contradictions into which she has been wedged.”

  Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak says Swift’s fascination with the past has introduced historic people, places and events to new audiences, often with those references carrying deeper meaning that requires further research to unearth.

  “Swift frequently invokes the past as a poetic device to add new meaning and nuance to her story,” she says, while referring to the singer as a “true historian.”

  “Swift doesn’t just incorporate elements of the past into her music — she also thinks historically,” Vlossak says. “She reflects on sources, interpretation, memory and preservation. She is keenly aware that she is herself both a historical actor and a product of a particular moment in time. She also understands that the way her story has and will be told will change over time.”

  Connecting history to her own life, Swift often alludes to women who were vilified for not conforming to socially acceptable gender norms, drawing comparisons to how she herself has been impacted by misogyny within and beyond the music industry.

  For instance, in There Goes the Last Great American Dynasty (2020), she recounts the life of American composer and philanthropist Rebecca Harkness (1915-1982), who hung out with Salvador Dalí and scandalized her wealthy, upper-crust neighbours for living so loudly. In her most recent album, she references Clara Bow (1905-1965), the hugely successful American actress of the silent film era who abandoned stardom at the age of 29 after being treated terribly by Hollywood.

  “She assumes that her audience will understand the significance of these references, along with all her others. If they don’t, they will have to look them up. And this is indeed what Swifties do,” Vlossak says.

  Associate Professor Liz Clarke in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film says Swift’s latest album has put the concept of fandom back into the spotlight.

  The album features songs that implicate fans who seem overly invested in the singer’s personal life, critiquing those feelings of entitlement over Swift’s personal life, she says.

  “We are seeing mixed reactions online,” Clarke says. “Fans are recognizing the critique and how they collectively feel like part of her circle. However, there’s also a bit of a disconnect where people are imagining that their response to Swift’s past romances may have been problematic while continuing to focus intensely on her current relationship, as though those aren’t two sides of the same coin.”

  Clarke says this ready dismissal or redirection of the critique embedded in the songs signals a missed opportunity.

  “This could be a wonderful moment for all of us to reflect on fandom and how we understand how we relate to not just Taylor Swift, but all celebrities,” Clarke says. “We’ve done this time and time again, especially with female celebrities, and I think it would be useful to sit in the discomfort of how fandom can blur the boundaries between public and private, or between our lives and other people’s lives.”

  Shauna Pomerantz, Professor in Brock’s Department of Child and Youth Studies, Elizabeth Vlossak, Associate Professor in the Department of History, and Liz Clarke, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, are available for media interviews on this topic.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews: 

  * Maryanne St. Denis, Manager, Content and Communications, Brock University mstdenis@brocku.ca or 905-246-0256

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  Categories: Media releases