Author Spotlight
Francesca Stamati
It’s 7:39 a.m. and the sound of your phone’s default wake-up alarm is the last thing you want to hear. You roll out of bed and climb into your desk chair, flipping open your MacBook just in time to join first period.
The thought of seven straight hours of Webex meetings is enough to make the easiest electives feel overwhelming, but even more painful are the hours of virtual assignments that follow. By the time you’re done with school work, the sky is pitch black and you realize you’ve spent an entire day with your eyes glued to a screen.
As the familiar, blue-light-induced migraine settles in, you have an even more agonizing thought: you’ll be repeating this schedule every weekday until at least Jan. 22.
To mitigate the daily morning panic and promote an overall healthier lifestyle, SMSD should allow at least two days each week for students to work on their own, with no required Webex meetings.
It could be a system similar to that of hybrid learning, the only change being that the two in-person days would be dedicated to teacher instruction through Webex meetings using the current block day schedule. This model provides students with flexibility, allowing them time to get up from the desk and away from the screen.
One Webex meeting after another, online school forces students into a sedentary lifestyle for most of the day, with no break time between classes to go on a walk or catch a breath of fresh air. This depressing, repetitive schedule of back-to-back virtual meetings will be everyone’s “day-in-the-life” for the next two months — and students shouldn’t be forced into this unhealthy routine for the sake of their grades.
For me, the most unbearable part of the switch back to remote learning is the requirement to join lengthy calls every day. The monotony of online school chips away at my motivation to give full effort into any of my classes.
While many of my peers and I agree that hybrid learning was not much better than full-time remote, the silver lining to the system was the two days a week we had to work on assignments independently. Those days were my favorites, since I didn’t have to wake up to a painful alarm only to spend the next 10+ hours sitting in front of a screen as countless Spanish worksheets and Pre-Calc study guides piled up on my to-do list.
Hybrid’s Webex-free days gave me time to get out and move around, something I’m already missing only a week into remote learning. I was able to use my elliptical while watching AP European History videos or go on a walk after studying for Chemistry. There’s no chance I’d be able to do these things in the mere five minutes we have between Webex meetings — which I now spend fixing WiFi issues.
While I still couldn’t escape doing assignments on my laptop during those two days of freedom, I was able to take a break when my headache became too overwhelming or if I found myself restless and irritable. Being able to relax, drink some water and exercise during these days made me realize how little time there is to take care of my health during online school.
I completed work more efficiently when I didn’t have to waste time in a Webex while the teacher spent the first 15 minutes of class asking each student how their weekend was just so they could fill up up a 90-minute class period.
On top of issues with wasted time and the lack of movement during the current remote school system, staring at a screen for so many consecutive hours is downright bad for our eyes.
According to an article by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center on the effects of screen time on eyes, excessive screen time can cause eye fatigue, retinal damage and other long-term issues. Long hours spent on laptops during online school can expose students to these harmful effects, most commonly leading to headaches caused by the blue light of the screen. I’m sick of spending every day letting my English teacher and my headache wrestle each other for my attention — a girl can only take so much Advil.
Before this school year began, I never had headaches. This isn’t an exaggeration, it was extremely rare for me to feel even the slightest pain in my head. But since the beginning of online school, I’m greeted with the the pounding of the same daily headache that makes me want to skip school entirely and spend the day in some fresh air — preferably miles away from any screen.
I understand that certain courses, such as AP and IB classes, need more time than other classes to teach the information that will be on the test, but this can be done without the lengthy virtual meetings. Students can use the extra time on non-Webex days to study for their class and focus on the assignment without having to worry about bouncing to another class. Plus, the three other days of the week for online instruction should be plenty of time for the lessons that are better taught face-to-face.
Schools may think that more hours on Webex are the only way to teach students during online school, but the accompanied headaches reduce the quality of learning that students are getting. Students should have work days at least two days a week during online schooling as a break from the exhausting, yet inevitable Webex meetings.
Fantastic article, Cesca! It is thrilling to read the clear, constructive, well-written, and well-thought prose of a young and thoughtful writer. I fully believe that too much webex/screen learning can cause physical issues and those are concerns that your school administrators should want to address. Are any other students feeling the same way? If so request those two days in the name of your physical health and improved performance. You are on the right track and I hope that they give you time away from the screen.
I arrived at the harbinger while looking after writings on cancel culture. I think that you’re right on the money about how hurtful, selfish, and unproductive if can be. In my opinion the quality of your writing excels many who write editorials in big city newspapers so keep up the good work. It is a joy and quite reassuring to hear a young person articulate such caring and mature thoughts. All the best and thanks again for such great articles! Sincerely – Todd Gianelly.