Virtual platforms, phones, and social media have all become primary modes of engagement for teens and adults in recent years. As such, we advise that it can be normal and sometimes beneficial to engage with both students and families using these platforms, and to expect to some degree that families and students will use these technologies to communicate with one another. There are also some important considerations and recommendations when it comes to technology use.
Technology and Safety
Technology use can carry with it the risk of unsafe encounters and unsafe sharing for students. Because the use of virtual platforms such as Whatsapp and social media can vary country to country, we cannot assume that our students will always know how to engage safely on them in an American context. As such, we provide students with comprehensive guidance in their welcome materials, and we also provide host families with similar guidance. Please be aware of these important standards and report any incident of unsafe or inappropriate technology use to your Support Coordinator or Support and Learning Specialist. Volunteers should be aware that risky or unsafe technology use for students can be a serious concern and should be reported right away.
Click here for more information on the guidance provided to host families on the Help & Learning for Host Families Platform regarding Student Safety when using the Web and Social Media.
Please note that at no time can a student be cut off completely from the ability to communicate with someone outside the home or their sending parents. Hosted participants must always be able to contact their liaison, AFS volunteers, and parent(s)/guardian(s).
Student Use of Technology to Communicate with Friends and Family Back Home
Because many virtual platforms allow for an expectation of immediate responsiveness, it can sometimes be a challenge for participants to practice moderate or limited contact with home when they use these platforms. If this happens for your participant, we encourage talking to them about setting up a more appropriate expectation for communication. Your Support Coordinator or Support and Learning Specialist can help.
It is also the reality for many of our students that, because of differences in time zones, times of the day when friends and family from back home may be available to talk, may be during sleep
hours or quiet hours for American families. If a participant’s contact with home is interfering with their sleep or is disruptive to the sleep and nighttime routines of the host family, that communication needs to change to a more suitable hour. Talk to your Support Coordinator or Support and Learning Specialist if you need any help working with your participant to make those adjustments.
Excessive Technology Use
Whether it’s communicating with friends and family back home, connecting with others on program in the US, scrolling through social media pages, watching YouTube, or playing games, participants can be on their devices a lot. Host family members can also be on their devices a lot too. To an extent, AFS understands that this can be natural in this day and age. It can also be very important to encourage setting limits whenever there’s concern that technology use is getting excessive.
When participants over-rely on technology for connection and communication, it can affect the quality of understanding achieved between them and another. Most online platforms are not built to facilitate full understanding of complex experiences, and so at no time will texting or social media be considered an adequate replacement for in person dialogue and sharing and socialization for our participants. Moreover, overreliance and excessive use of technology is commonly believed to be linked to increased experiences of phenomena such as online bullying, over-comparison of the self with others, isolation, and other possible concerns to participant emotional wellbeing.
The following are some common examples of situations in which reducing technology use may be an important aspect of support. Talk to your Support Coordinator or Support and Learning Specialist for guidance if:
- A participant and/or host family tend to mostly remain on their own devices even when together during family times or downtimes;
- A participant and/or host family tend to rely on texting to communicate with one another even when they are all in the home;
- A participant spends more than 30 minutes to one hour a day on their devises (excluding academic use); or
- A participant report experiencing challenges in making friends in their host school or community.
Some helpful strategies for mitigating excessive technology use are:
- Encouraging participants and host families to create a “technology corner” or “technology basket” in the home where devices of all kinds can remain during specific times of the day, such as mealtimes or family times or nighttime.
- Encouraging audio/visual platforms or in person contact as much as possible as opposed to texting or social media for your participant when they engage with others.
- For your own communication with host parents and participants, try as much as possible to keep those communications to phone calls, video calls, or in-person conversations. Think of texting or messaging as a way to more quickly check in, or as a way to schedule a more in-depth conversation.
- Unless necessary (such as if you are taking notes or using translation assistance), put your own devices away fully when checking in in person with your participant, and encourage them to do the same. Encourage “technology corners” or “technology baskets” or “keep your devises your bag” policies at AFS gatherings such as orientations.
If participant or host family excessive technology use persists over time and/or despite suggestions or strategies like those noted above, a more formal intervention may be needed. Please contact your Support Coordinator or Support and Learning Specialist.