> James Pietsch Case #73 - Disconnected Work and Education

Disconnect, connect, learn

June 30, 2025

James Pietsch

It is almost a cliché in educational circles, but it is true—the quality of a student’s educational experience is almost always linked with the quality of the relationships they develop with their peers, their parents and their teachers. Healthy communities, in which people feel safe to approach challenges, to be challenged by others and, in turn, to challenge others, are relational spaces in which young people can flourish academically, personally, emotionally and spiritually. And, sadly, the converse is also true. When communities become spaces characterised by isolation and disconnection—when relational trust and psychological safety decline—learning is inhibited and students become disengaged, disinterested and, in some cases, dysfunctional.

Jonathan Haidt’s recent bestseller The Anxious Generation (Allen Lane, 2024) presents some sobering data which suggests that this isolation and disconnection amongst young people has been on the rise in the past ten to fifteen years. Haidt argues that this is the result of two factors—the declining amount of free play young people engage in, and our culture’s obsession with social media. For example, the number of senior boys (Year 12) describing themselves as lonely has increased from 28% in 2000 to 35% in 2019. In the 1990s, 3% of young men reported having no close friends. By 2021, that number had grown to 15%. In another set of studies, senior students in the US were asked if they often felt lonely. In 2012, the number of students agreeing with this statement was 18% for boys and 26% for girls; in 2019 it had grown to 27% for boys and 38% for girls—almost a 50% increase for both boys and girls. But perhaps the most concerning statistic is the amount of time spent each day with friends. Studies investigating the amount of time that 15- to 24-year-olds spend with friends reveals that since 2003 it has more than halved, with the most significant drop occurring from 2017 to 2021. While one might conclude that this drop was COVID-related, the steep decline begins around 2017, such that the drop during the COVID pandemic was actually consistent with a trend already established.

Haidt quotes from a Canadian college student who reports on the relationship between social media and social isolation.

‘Gen Z are an incredibly isolated group of people. We have shallow friendships and superfluous romantic relationships that are mediated and governed to a large degree by social media …. There is hardly a sense of community on campus and its not hard to see (why). Oftentimes I’ll arrive early to a lecture to find a room of 30+ students sitting together in complete silence, absorbed in their smartphones, afraid to speak and be heard by their peers. This leads to further isolation and a weakening of self-identity and confidence, something I know because I’ve experienced it firsthand.’ (pp122ff)

University campuses can provide students with opportunities to learn through robust discussion, collaborating together on projects, and sharing perspectives with one another. However, as the quote above outlines, they can also be very lonely places for students where relationships can be difficult to build in lecture theatres where students are disinclined to strike up conversations with one another. What universities, such as UNSW, have realised in recent years is the importance of providing students with opportunities to live on campus. Colleges and halls of residence, where the building of community and the forming of relationships are primary goals, are places where students connect quickly and naturally with others. Living on campus provides students with opportunities to take part in sporting competitions, cultural activities, social outings and activities focused on spiritual development. Residents share their lives with one another, eating meals together and studying together. While living on campus is a rite of passage in the US and parts of the UK, in Australia we have placed less importance on this aspect of the tertiary experience. The need for such collegial communities, however, has never been greater.

Schools, in which students and teachers enjoy closer relationships with one another, are also places where connectedness can be rebuilt and restored through the promotion of thriving learning communities. But to do this, according to Haidt, we will need to get serious about restricting the use of technology and actively promoting social interaction and learning that is playful, challenging and collaborative.

In terms of restricting technology, Haidt argues that there are three things we need to change if we are turn around these trends (from p290). These reforms are

1. No smartphones before high school

2. No social media access for young people under the age of 16

3. No phones at school

Most schools have begun the process of banning the use of phones at school. However, many schools have traditionally adopted a ‘bring your own’ approach to laptops and other devices. Such devices allow students to access social media websites, receive notifications throughout the day and access websites during lessons unrelated to the content of the lesson. While schools can monitor what takes place over their own networks, students can easily link their devices to other devices and access the internet through wireless networks, creating a situation where students are distracted and disengaged from their learning.

Accessing the internet and the use of digital devices are necessary if we are to prepare students for a digital world. However, there is a need for schools to manage these devices—to own them and control what students can and cannot access on them. This will require a major overhaul of our laissez-faire approach of the past—recognising that our young people are no longer engaging on a level playing field, given that social media companies have intentionally set out to exploit ‘vulnerabilities in human psychology’ (a quote from the first president of Facebook, Sean Parker, see p227). To expect a thirteen-year-old adolescent to navigate a world that is intentionally designed by thousands of incredibly bright engineers to ensure that they, and their friends, are permanently accessing content on social media, is naïve. Schools need to be proactively setting boundaries for students who are unlikely to establish these boundaries on their own.

In terms of actively promoting social interaction and engaging in playful learning, this will require re-educating students about learning itself—teaching them how to collaborate, how to take risks, and giving them opportunities to practise presenting ideas for the consideration of others. It is why learning about learning needs to be part of our schooling practice—using the research of Michael Anderson on effective collaboration, for example, and using the approaches of Jason Baehr relating to intellectual virtues, Art Costa on habits of mind, and Guy Claxton on building learning power. We need to engage with students in conversations about learning, relationships, and how we can build connections with one another that will facilitate learning and flourishing throughout their lives.

What is clear from the data collected by Haidt is that social connectedness in our broader culture is declining. And yet, connectedness is what makes us who we are. Connectedness is that underlying feature of our spiritual and emotional worlds that grounds us within our overlapping communities, forming our identities and our personalities. We know this from our experience of Christian communities, in churches, in youth groups and bible study groups. We can only learn so much as isolated individuals. What we learn together—in schools and in churches—determines who we become.

Dr James Pietsch is Principal of Inaburra School, and a regular 'Work & Education' columnist with Case Quarterly. His doctoral research focused on sociocultural theories of mathematics education.