Greenwich High adds teen’s workshop to tackle social media use | #childpredator | #onlinepredator | #sextrafficing

GREENWICH — Riona McKersie, a senior at Greenwich High School, did not get her own phone until she was in eighth grade.

She quickly realized the device would distract her from many of the other things she wanted to do — whether it be focusing on school or being present in the moment — so she started limiting her screen time “as much as possible,” she said. 

She also noticed how often her friends, family and peers were on their phones and social media. 

“It’s common to say, ‘Oh my gosh, my screen time is so high’,” McKersie said. 

It’s why she created the Postivity Project, a workshop she leads with students that has even been incorporated into Greenwich High School’s health curriculum on how to responsibly use social media.

“I didn’t want to tell students, ‘No, don’t use social media,’ because that’s just not realistic,” McKersie said. 

The presentation is one part of a long resume that includes numerous other community initiatives she’s created or participated in, which earned McKersie The Fleishman Service Award from Greenwich Public Schools on April 21. The award is presented to a student “who has made significant contributions to their school and community.”

McKersie presented The Positivity Project to Greenwich High School classes and a club in Central Middle School to tell students how they “could reclaim their online spaces in meaningful and healthy ways.” 

According to a Gallup Poll from October 2023, just over half of teenagers in the United States said they spent at least four hours a day on social media with 13-year-olds averaging 4.1 hours per day and 17-year-olds averaging 5.8 hours per day.  

McKersie wanted her presentation to educate students on how to use their emotions and reasoning to navigate social media while remaining positive in an effort to support their mental health. She also had students discuss with each other about how they use social media and how it made them feel. 

The presentation said the Pew Research Center reported 32% of teenagers said their social media experience was mostly negative, while 24% said it was mostly positive.

McKersie also shared techniques to moderate social media use, including not “mindlessly” scrolling and instead interacting with the content by sharing it with someone. Teens can also set a timer for 10 minutes that would be spent away from their phones, but they could use that time to think about what they want to read or hear about when they went back to them. 

Students also filled out a survey before and after the presentation, sharing their thoughts on their own social media use and how they intended to change those habits, if at all, after the presentation. Some responded that the presentation made them want to cut back on their screen time and talk more with their friends and family about their social media use, McKersie said.

She said she was surprised to see how open some of the students were to talking to each other about social media use. 

“Because there’s no delete button it’s important to encourage students to use it in a way that’s beneficial and doesn’t harm themselves and harm other people,” McKersie said. 

McKersie created the workshop to earn her Gold Award, the highest award one can achieve in Girl Scouts. McKersie said she spoke with local teachers and principals, graphic designers and psychologists to put it together. 

She started working on The Positivity Project in March 2023 and gave her first presentation in fall 2024. 

Deirdre Burke, program associate for physical education and health and safety at Greenwich High School, let McKersie present the workshop to her ninth graders, who she said “were actively engaged and filled with curiosity.”

She said McKersie’s content “aligned perfectly” with the learning objectives of the school’s existing Digital Literacy and Social Media unit, which “focuses on how social media impacts mental health, self esteem, and brain development.” So in January 2025, Burke started to incorporate certain activities and material from McKersie’s slideshow into ninth grade classes.

“Every teacher hopes their students will carry ideas beyond the classroom and dive deeper into something that resonates with them and Riona did exactly that,” Burke said. 

McKersie said it made her feel good to see her project supporting the school’s curriculum. 

“It’s good to know that my work is continuing, even if it’s something very small,” McKersie said.