LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Define and describe sadfishing; Explain how sharing emotions online can have positive or negative impacts; identify problematic emotional posts and describe alternative outlets when sharing online is not appropriate

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 2: Analyze the influence of technology on health behaviors. 

CASEL COMPETENCY: Responsible decision-making; self-management

KEY VOCAB

dopamine, inauthentic, vulnerable, recovery

Lesson Plan: Fishing for Attention?

Is that emotional Snap from your friend genuine… or just a plea for attention? And how can you tell when you’ve crossed the emotional line online? Read on to find out! 

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

What are safe and healthy ways to get help when I’m feeling down? 

 CLOSE-READING QUESTIONS

  1. What is sadfishing and why do people do it? Sadfishing is the practice of posting overly dramatic content just to get sympathy. People make these exaggerated posts in order to increase engagement on social media. 
  2. According to family and teen therapist Jaynay Johnson, how can seeing other people’s struggles online be helpful? She says that seeing other people struggle can help you feel less alone. 
  3. According to a study done in the UK, why did many teens who were having mental health issues feel worse after posting about their struggles online? They felt worse because they received bad or unhelpful advice in response to their posts. 

 CRITICAL-THINKING QUESTIONS

  1. Have you ever posted online about your struggles? Why or why not? (If you answered “yes”to this question, also explain whether you now wish you had not made the post or if you stillthink it was a good idea, and why.) Answers will vary.
  2. Have you ever suspected that someone made a post just for attention on social media? Describe the post and why you think it qualified as sadfishing. Answers will vary. 
  3. How do you personally react if you suspect someone is sadfishing, and why? Will you do anything differently now as a result of reading the article? Answers will vary.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

DIGGING DEEPER

NHES 2

CASEL Competency: Responsible decision-making; self-management

TO POST OR NOT TO POST? Given a certain set of online struggle-sharing scenarios, poll students to decide if each post is OK, could possibly be OK depending on certain factors, or is definitely not OK. Have students explain their thinking for each answer, and then discuss as a class! (Click here to find this Skill Builder.)

EXTENSION ACTIVITY

NHES 2

CASEL Competency: Relationship skills

In this activity, students will visit this NAMI article about how to disclose one’s own mental health struggles to others and select their TOP 5 WAYS TO SHARE STRUGGLES SAFELY. Once they are finished, have them share new information they learned on this topic. (Click here to find this Skill Builder.)

Text-to-Speech