PSS sees ‘sensory overload’ from social media as mental health concern among students

Concerns about the growing impact of social media on student mental health dominated discussion when Public School System officials addressed the Rotary Club of Saipan last Feb. 10, highlighting both the challenges facing students and the district’s broader efforts to support them.

During the question-and-answer portion of the meeting, Rotarian Donna Krum asked whether PSS is seeing a worsening trend tied to social media use.

PSS Mental Health Program coordinator Walter Mendez responded candidly.

“Social media is a big issue,” he said. “Social media and access to information are a double-edged sword.”

Mendez explained that while students today have unprecedented access to information, the constant connectivity also carries risks.

“It allows for our students to have access to so much information, information that we've never had that much access to in the past. However, it also poses lots of risks and what we're seeing is that risk,” he said.

From the district’s mental health perspective, he added, the effects often manifest as overstimulation.

“I'd say from the mental health program yes we are seeing some of those challenges,” Mendez said, citing “sensory overload” and “information overload.” He added, “To validate your answer is yes we are seeing this.”

The exchange underscored the central theme of PSS’ presentation to the Rotary Club—that schools today are addressing far more than academics.

“We aren't just teaching subjects like math and reading and sciences,” Mendez said earlier in the presentation. “What we're really looking for is how do we cultivate our citizens? How do we cultivate our students and our youth?”

Mendez and Counseling Program manager Dr. Paulette Tomokane, both under PSS’ Office of Student and Support Services, outlined how the district is working across 20 schools in the CNMI to build resilience, teach conflict resolution, and strengthen students’ social-emotional skills.

PSS defines conflict resolution in education as “teaching and applying nonviolent, constructive strategies such as negotiation, mediation, and active listening to resolve disputes among students and staff, also to be able to manage emotions, and lastly, to build positive relationships,” Mendez said.

When educators are trained in these skills, he said, “Students benefit in real ways. Students feel heard. They feel respected. And supported.” They learn “critical life skills such as how to communicate, how to manage their emotions, and how to resolve disagreements in a peaceful approach.”

Rather than relying solely on punitive discipline, the district approaches conflict “as a skill-building process,” intervening early to prevent escalation and keep students engaged in class.

The district has adopted the PREPARE model, establishing school-based crisis teams trained to respond to emergencies ranging from natural disasters to on-campus safety concerns. It has also implemented consistent social-emotional learning curricula—Positive Action at the elementary level and Character Strong at the middle and high school levels.

“So this was one of the biggest moves that the district has done to maintain consistency across all our classrooms on Saipan Tinian, and Rota when addressing and teaching students social emotional learning skills,” Tomokane said.

Counselors conduct classroom guidance and small group sessions using research-based programs such as Healthy Relationships Plus and Peaceful Alternatives to Tough Situations. Suicide prevention training through QPR and ASIST equips staff to respond to students in crisis.

“These two trainings provide educators and PSS staff on how to respond to a report for a suicide intervention,” Tomokane said.

The district also launched Sources of Strength, or SOS, which trains students to serve as peer mediators and peer support leaders.

The mental health program itself formally began in 2020, initially tied to post-typhoon recovery efforts following super typhoons Soudelor and Yutu.

“We had such a big impact in our community, we had felt as a district we could have applied for this grant to support our students who were really suffering in the background,” Mendez said. The COVID-19 pandemic later intensified the need and brought mental health concerns “to the surface,” he added.

Against that backdrop, social media has emerged as a complicating factor.

Another Rotarian, Vincent J. Seman, noted that for many students, especially in middle and high school, devices function as “electronic shackles,” with cyberbullying and classroom conflicts continuing after school hours.

Mendez acknowledged that reality and said PSS is responding through its Instructional Technology and Distance Education Office, which conducts outreach on the “positive and the negatives” of device use, including warning signs of overuse and strategies to manage screen time.

“That kind of outreach information is happening at the schools,” he said.

School counselors also address “the social media and the impacts and the implications of social media” during classroom guidance sessions, making digital behavior a regular topic of discussion.

“Sometimes it feels like we're a little bit behind because the challenges are right in front and it seems like we're steps behind but we are making efforts to keep the word out so that our kids are hearing both sides of their challenges,” Mendez said.

Tomakone added that outreach extends to families through the Family Engagement and Community Partnership Program.

“We're getting calls in for requests, and there's a need that we need to go out to reach parents, whether it's on how to address screen time behaviors that result from overstimulation of screens or controlling, teaching skills on how to manage social media life,” she said.

Even with funding constraints and shifting priorities posing ongoing challenges—“The most obvious one is cost,” Mendez noted—PSS officials told Rotarians they remain committed to proactive support.

“We still continue to move forward because our students deserve it all,” Tomokane said.