As Connecticut lawmakers consider new legislation aimed at curbing youth social media addiction and limiting personal device use during the school day, Southern Connecticut State University faculty are helping to bring research-based insight to the conversation.
Dr. Meghan Brahm Gleeson, associate professor in Southern’s Department of Inclusive Education and Behavior Science and a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), recently joined WPLR’s “For The People” to discuss how social media use is affecting students’ learning, attention, and behavior.
Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in behavior analysis and special education, Gleeson studies the intersection of behavior and learning, with a focus on how technology may be shaping youth development. She noted that adolescents now navigate both physical and digital environments simultaneously — a shift that can reduce opportunities for face-to-face interaction and social skill development.
“We now exist in two distinctly different environments,” Gleeson said. “There’s the environment that we live in physically, and then there’s an electronic environment that lives on our person 24/7.”
Gleeson also highlighted emerging research around “technoference,” in which technology use interferes with interpersonal relationships, including parent-child engagement.
Listeners can hear the full conversation on WPLR’s “For The People” here.
