Please read my previous post before you continue, thank you!

• https://miras.tech.blog/2019/12/13/how-house-plants-improved-my-mood-mental-health-and-cognitive-limitations/

As my first blog post described, I have had a lot of personal success with aiding my mental health disorders with the introduction of indoor plants. I began to wonder if there was any scientific evidence that would support my good feelings. I have broken this blog up into three sections to discuss my findings on the benefits of houseplants pertaining to Mood disorders, Mental health struggles and cognitive limitations. My goal is to inform the viewer about the positive benefits of indoor plants and how they might be able to aid in giving relief or clarity to the categories mentioned above.

Plant Healing from air pollutants to help those with heightened sensitivities: 

According to Linda Artis in her article called “Using Plants as Air Filters she explained “ Part of detoxing our environment means eliminating household products that leave a chemical scent, such as candles, scented hand sanitizers, nail polish and cleaning supplies. Other chemicals are harder to eliminate such as chemicals in paint, furniture and rugs. The most efficient air filters remove dust, pollen, mold, smoke and other irritants although they impede the flow of air through cooling and heating ducts which ultimately can cause unnecessary wear and tear on the unit.” For myself as well as others, micropollutants and smells can be very overwhelming. Selecting specific indoor plants that help in filtering out these irritants can make our indoor spaces feel less stressful. Linda also notes how a group of four indoor plants were tested and showed the best results at removing specific pollutants from the air. In her study she found that when the bromeliad plant was exposed to eight VOC’s in a 12 hour period of time it absorbed up to 80% of six of these compounds. The dracaena plant had the best performance absorbing acetone at a 94% rate.  The spider plant wasn’t as good at absorbing toluene and benzene, but did an excellent job eliminating some of the other VOC’s such as ethylbenzene, p-Xylenes, o-Xylene and acetone. The jade plant removed 80% of all these substances, although approximately 70% of acetone. 

Calming a busy ADHD brain with mindfulness & gardening:

As I was looking for more info on how gardening can help symptoms of ADHD, I found a great article from a woman named Linda Roggli called  “I cultivate my garden and my inner peace”. Linda notes how normally she feels overwhelmed by unattended tasks, but gardening brings her a sense of peace, while also keeping her focused. In her article she notes “Research shows that ADHD brains are better able to pay attention, focus, and stay on track when they slow down a bit – be more mindful of the moment. There is no place more mindful for me than my veggie garden.” While her focus is aimed at outdoor gardening, I believe her ideas about refocusing her busy brain would also work in an indoor setting. 

Helping heal your mind, and potentially your aches and pains:

This one came as a surprise to me. As a person who has lived with a pain disorder for over a decade, I was happily shocked to find out that they now think some indoor plants may be able to help those of us with chronic pain. Dierdre Sullivan, writer at The Spruce.com writes how multi-beneficial indoor plants are. She notes how scientists say, just being around houseplants, flowers, and even artfully arranged branches (more on that later) can significantly boost your mood, reduce stress, improve concentration including ADHD symptoms, and even relieve aches and pains.

I am a college student who was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia when I was 13. I always knew that I was a bit different from the rest of the kids in my classes because I learned information very differently. I was always fascinated by learning and I wanted to know everything I could possibly learn but, I had a hard time staying focused or understanding the information that was given to me. Now, as a 25 year old who has successfully graduated from two different colleges, started her own business and has figured out how to advocate for herself to learn most efficiently, I feel that I have a say in how my personal journey has led me to understand the need for nature in my space.

 In early 2019 I was diagnosed with a pain disorder called Fibromyalgia. Additionally I was diagnosed with PTSD & co-occurring anxiety and depression. While a lot of these new labels helped me feel more understood, I was simultaneously freaking out and feeling lost being so unfamiliar with these mental health disorders. Not to mention I was constantly exhausted and struggled to find balance in my life. I had a wonderful team of medical & holistic professionals as well as my family who supported me and offered compassion when I felt my worst. I began researching natural ways to help my symptoms and I found an article which listed house plants as a way to soothe the brain during episodes of difficult mental health. 

I went to my local Nursery and I chose two pothos plants, a heart shaped foliage plant perfecct for trailing over windows and a tradescantia zebrina that is a semi succulent vining plant with small guitar pick shaped leaves that have light purple variegation.

Initially I went through a few stages of buyer’s remorse, being unsure if I would be able to take care of these new plants, but, I understood that if I did manage to kill them there were plenty of other replacements at the nursery and that this would just be a learning curve similar to understanding my own needs for treating my new Mental Health struggles. I began to realize over the next few months that these plants not only brought me joy but they taught me new lessons about care. Some weeks I forgot to water them and they inevitably wilted. Other weeks I gave them too much water and their leaves yellowed. I saw similarities somehow my plant care was either lacking or being overzealous and it felt like a reflection of my own care for myself. I knew that I needed to find a happy middle in order to keep my plants feeling good. 

I share these stories because I believe that we are always in transition and what might work one week may not have the same effect the next week. Being able to grow from what you’ve learned is incredibly important and having compassion for yourself even in rough patches will allow you to find what you truly need to feel your best. 

Self regulation is important because it helps us cater the content we consume. Hand in hand this term works with being self aware, open to change and not questioning your own developing opinions. It is important to continue to edit the media you are consuming (being consumed by?). Catering your ever evolving tastes, interests and opinions is important. Being able to assess your “circle” and see how you could strengthen your own moral is beneficial to not just you, but the people you interact with. By broadening (or limiting) your focus on certain topics, you will be able to have deeper and more meaningful interactions. We all grow and change as individuals – especially those in the public eye on social media platforms – Being conscientious of who you follow and what you “like” is important. 

Some users like to do a “social media cleanse”. The idea is that you either unfollow accounts that no longer interest you / bring you stress or you delete the social media apps entirely. This may seem like an extreme for some, but I can see how it could be a necessary step for many users who struggle with self restraint.

A few weeks ago I wrote an essay on my own self identity online, here is an excerpt from that essay “I filter my thoughts and initial reactions making me appear more conservative online, especially if I am responding to a post or status I disagree with. I used to be  reactive towards those posts, feeling that by speaking up online I was fulfilling a social obligation and making sure my self-identity (and what I believed in) was being reinforced. I used to interact with a lot of political stances, advocacy posts, and share memes about hot topic issues, but I’ve realized that I want to refrain from being so transparent online because I noticed by engaging in those posts it was causing me to have online relationships with people who disagree and are unwilling to learn from others.“ It is important for my self preservation to continue to look at the media I am consuming and make sure that what I follow is supporting my mind as well as my moral. 

Similarly, when we talk about self preservation we must talk about the regulations to privacy. On one hand, I do not believe that users should be censored from sharing their thoughts but at the same time I would not want hateful or hurtful to use the internet unregulated to spread hate. The optimist in me would hope people would use the internet for good” and not “evil”, but realistically I know that trolls and hateful users exist online and thrive on creating digital chaos. I think there should be an agreed upon “limit’ that individuals can get to before the government interferes. A set of “rules” that would be revised each year to make sure they are still effective in keeping everyone safe. As an example, Facebook has attempted to implement guidelines like this in the past. Inevitably being such a huge platform they were unable to monitor all users equally and many hate groups were able to post shock images, pornography or terrorist affiliated messages without repercussion. While I do not want to allow those sorts of things to be shared my fear in tightening up regulations is that eventually no one will be able to freely share their thoughts, even if they are harmless. It is definitely a troubling predicament. 

As a final thought, one must remember the most important “rule” of the internet…..

I will be focusing on technology being implemented into schools and how I feel it should be utilized. I will also discuss the pros and cons towards implementing technology into our students education via the classroom.

First, technology is really important. In addition to continually advancing, changing and making our everyday lives more convenient, technology allows us to connect with one another in real time across small and vast distances. I believe that everyone should have basic life skills in how to operate technology in order to stay connected with family, peers, and teachers. My suggestion is that students should be trained and familiarized with the fundamentals of the tech world which will allow them to utilize the power of the internet for learning and peer collaboration.

But where do we start?

I believe that it is important for students to understand how to type, how to use the internet, how to download pictures and/or media for project use. I also believe it’s important for students to get training on how to use programs like Microsoft Word/Excel/PowerPoint, Google Docs/ Classroom/Slides/, and be able to competently compose an email. These skills are important because they are the foundation towards anything else students could potentially do on the world wide web. By understanding how to communicate with others via email or within composition applications such as Google Docs students may find that their social media postings benefit from grammar and concept development.

When I was in school there was a class that was taught called Tech. This was an all-encompassing technical class that taught me the basics of how to use a computer as well as the programs mentioned above. Technology in my eyes is an everyday, practical skills students must have in order to succeed. For some, tech outside the classroom is  difficult due to lack of resources, accessibility, and limited training.

How can I learn if I do not have tech outside of the classroom?

Today students are assumed to have tech skills prior to entering the classroom, but not every home or family has accessibility to technology or computers. Many times students do not have the resources to have the same technology that they have at school at their home. This is problematic when teachers assume they do. An option could be to host crowdfunding type of fundraiser where the community could donate gently used devices or funds for students to use. This idea is good in theory but not necessarily practical. The United States educational system is notoriously underfunded and even with crowdfunding attempts such as bake sales or fundraisers, schools are often left without sustainable funds to accommodate all of their students in need. This creates tension and often ends in a “none or all” mentality where no one receives donations. There is a real crisis for having equal access to this kind of technology within home environments and without more governmental funding I do not believe we would be able to sustain an environment where every student has equal opportunities. 

One success in providing “techequity” is Santa barbara Unified School District, which pioneered 1-1 iPad use for all students, and provided basic internet to families for a nominal charge. Every student received the same technology and support, and thus had similar opportunities to engage with and learn with the technology.

Non-compatible operating systems and confusing formats.

As schools have struggled to keep up with the advances in technology, students have been expected to learn how to use multiple operating systems and formats. Schools often have to manage outdated computers with old operating systems in labs, newer chromebooks on carts, and out of date iPads with limited apps. In each instance, there is a lack of conformity for how to do basic skills like copying an image.

Cloud-based machines such as Chromebooks are quick, less expensive, and overall very hardy for teenagers getting familiarized with computers for the first time. Cloud-based machines are not ideal because users can’t save anything to the computer itself. This makes creating presentations and other media like PowerPoints frustrating because you can not insert media unless you are familiarize with cloud-based workflow. 

Similarly to the limitations with Chromebooks, many households and schools believe that iPads/tablets are a suitable alternative to a PC computer. As a creator who has worked extensively in the technology field (mainly working on multimedia projects) I have experienced difficulty trying to be quick and efficient on an iPad or tablet.

The first step towards creating a healthy environment to teach technology in the classroom is to get the appropriate equipment. As TeachHub notes Ipads are notoriously difficult to use in the classroom setting, mentioning that the workflow is clunky and the over all interface is distracting. https://www.teachhub.com/advantagesdisadvantages-ipad-classroom

Does this mean I am anti-tech?

Absolutely not. I do think it is important to implement technologies in the classroom. The implemented system needs to have support put in place for all students. Beyond resources, we need to have teachers who understand how to utilize technology most efficiently and teach this to students. Training alone will not encourage students to become interested, instead I suggest the “teaching by doing” method which involves students to be more hands on. This creates a better more proactive understanding of technology for all individuals. For instance, using classroom-based applications such as Blackboard is really beneficial for students. Applications and websites specifically developed for classroom use engages their brains in a way that isolates students from the distractions of the rest of their computer or tablet. 

Many schools actually have a parental Locking System that keeps the students involved in a specific application and does not let them wander off to other applications or get distracted. Having restrictions like these are important so students are not given the option to dilly-dally, become distracted, or accidentally end up in an inappropriate part of the internet. Another reason I believe incorporating technology in the classroom is important is because it creates a more visceral and stimulating experience for students. This website notes the vital use of multimedia in class projects. They list podcasts as a tool to help process content and more. https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/ways-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom/

#1 skill students should learn about technology – How to be safe online.

Lastly, when we talk about technology we must also talk about technological safety. Many minors have created fake accounts on social media platforms so that they can bypass the age restriction of 13 years old. These children do not understand the repercussions of the internet. Back in 2014 Snapchat had a lot of privacy breaches and children who had been posting privately suddenly had their accounts made public. This is one instance where children’s content was being used in an inappropriate matter. Are the parents to blame for allowing their child to create an account? We could ask ” why did they let their kids post these things” or “how didn’t they know” but in reality these kids were just being kids on a platform they thought was private and safe. They were not creating any sort of content that was purposefully inappropriate, it became inappropriate when adults used their content maliciously.

Our first priority in teaching technology is teaching how to be smart online in order to protect our youth. Having a comprehensive internet safety course taught in all schools would allow our children to be safer on the internet. This website offers good strategies for parents working to provide a safe space for their children to post on social media. https://www.akronchildrens.org/kidshealth/en/parents/social-media-smarts.htmlhttps://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/5-reasons-you-dont-need-to-worry-about-kids-and-social-media

Conclusion

Technology is really important. In order to achieve “techequity”, students must have equal access to and equal training in modern platforms and devices. Providing appropriate guidelines for safety, and comprehensive protocol for daily use will give all students the ability to access the power of the internet as a safe educational tool. Developing the ability of students to use applications and programs designed for classroom presentations, research, and collaboration will enhance the learning of this “screener” generation.