On Friday, November 3, the St. Sebastian’s community utilized the school’s annual Unity Day to examine the impact of social media on our well-being. Thanks to the generosity of the Johnson-McCarthy Wellness Fund, we were able to dedicate the morning to exploring this topic as a community. The purpose was not to tell people to stay off social media, but to help understand how it affects our lives. There are many benefits, but we should consider how we can use it to best inform, educate, and inspire us to enjoy a more balanced and fulfilled life.
After the Wellness team introduced the program, students and faculty watched the film “Like” together. The movie was followed by remarks from our guest speaker, Ms. Scilla Andreen. Ms. Andreen, is an award-winning filmmaker, Emmy nominated Costume Designer, Author, co-founder of IndieFlix, and CEO & Founder of Impactful Group, a social good media company. She created the Creative Coping Toolkit (CCT), an award-winning, film and evidence-based mental health education program for schools, corporations and government agencies. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Good Morning America and the Today Show.
Following Ms. Andreen’s presentation and a Q&A with the audience, the students broke into small groups to discuss all that they learned. The St. Sebastian’s peer educators created a list of topics and members of our senior class, MPA officers, and peer educators led the engaging and thoughtful discussions.