You Can’t Learn Online If You Aren’t Online

Stress, Remote Learning, and COVID-19 Lockdowns

Authors

  • Laura Robinson Santa Clara University
  • Katia Moles Santa Clara University
  • Jeremy Schulz University of California

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36517/psg.v14iespecial.91254

Abstract

In this article we examine digital inequalities and remote learning among students in the U.S. With the sudden and unforeseen closure of schools, students shifted suddenly to remote learning. Almost immediately, students who had counted on resources available in school settings were in lockdown at home with insufficient digital resources with which to engage in remote learning. The data is drawn from online commentary by students curated by The New York Times during the first wave of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 when large portions of the U.S. were under stay-at-home orders forcing schools to close their doors abruptly. Based on content analysis, findings reveal the effects of digital isolation alongside the pressures of remote learning that result in stress, anxiety, and reduced well-being. Simply put: students can’t learn online if they can’t get online, unleashing a number of negative impacts on their mental health and well-being. Digital isolation at a time in which remote learning is the only option for schoolwork and academic success causes extreme stress for the digitally disadvantaged as they fall further and further behind on their learning and schoolwork compared to their better-resourced peers. As our findings show, when this occurs, they enact what we call digital false consciousness in which they internalize responsibility for their digital inequalities when these inequalities are truly the result of long-standing structural inequalities that drive digital inequality. When this occurs, digital inequalities stemming from economic disadvantage are enacted as a form of toxic individualism that further widens the psychological aspects of the digital divide. Finally concerning theoretical contributions, we put our findings into conversation with the sociological imagination to show how students internalize the negative impacts of structural digital inequalities during the pandemic and erroneously take responsibility for social and economic forces largely outside of their control in what might be called digital false consciousness. As we show, when the digitally excluded are liberated from digital false consciousness, they are able to reject the naturalization of inequality

Author Biographies

Laura Robinson, Santa Clara University

Laura Robinson is Professor in the Department of Sociology at Santa Clara University and Faculty Associate at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. After earning her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she held a Mellon Fellowship in Latin American Studies, her other affiliations include the UC Berkeley Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, the Cornell University Department of Sociology, Department of Sociology at Trinity College Dublin, USC Annenberg Center, and the École Normale Supérieure. Her service positions include Series Co-Editor of Emerald Studies in Media & Communications and Palgrave Studies in Digital Inequalities, North American Coordinator of the Brazil-U.S. Colloquium on Communication Research, Organizing Committee Member of the Media Sociology Symposium, Steering Committee Member of the Digital Sociology Thematic Group of the International Sociological Association, and CITAMS Section Chair 2014-2015. Her research has earned awards from CITASA, AOIR, and NCA IICD for her work on digital inequalities and digital sociology in Brazil, France, and the United States.

Katia Moles, Santa Clara University

Katia Moles was trained as a social ethicist at the Graduate Theological Union and UC Berkeley where her work examined the policy implications of culturally embedded framings of sexuality and reproduction within larger ethical and religious traditions. Currently, Dr. Moles is a social ethicist of technology in the School of Engineering at Santa Clara University where her research speaks to the intersection of inequalities and digital media, particularly issues of inclusion that impact traditionally underrepresented groups. The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion awarded Moles the “New Scholar Award” for her article “A Culture of Flourishing: A Feminist Ethical Framework for Incorporating Child Sexual Abuse Prevention in Catholic Institutions.” UC Berkeley, Santa Clara University, Dominican University, Graduate Theological Union, and Florida International University have also recognized Moles’ work in Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion that animates her research and teaching.

Jeremy Schulz, University of California

Jeremy Schulz is a researcher at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at the University of California, Berkeley. His current research focuses on digital inequality and work and wealth among economic elites. He has also done research and published in several other areas, including digital sociology, sociological theory, qualitative research methods, work and family, and consumption. His article, “Zoning the Evening,” is published in Qualitative Sociology and received the Shils-Coleman Award from the ASA Theory Section. Other publications include “Talk of Work,” published in Theory and Society, and “Shifting Grounds and Evolving Battlegrounds,” published in the American Journal of Cultural Sociology. Since earning his PhD at UC Berkeley, he has held an NSF-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University.

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Published

2023-12-28

How to Cite

Robinson, L., Moles, K., & Schulz, J. (2023). You Can’t Learn Online If You Aren’t Online: Stress, Remote Learning, and COVID-19 Lockdowns . Passagens: Revista Do Programa De Pós-Graduação Em Comunicação Da Universidade Federal Do Ceará, 14(especial), 31–53. https://doi.org/10.36517/psg.v14iespecial.91254

Issue

Vol. 14 No. especial (2023): Dossiê Diálogos com as Infâncias e as Juventudes: os desafios com as tecnologias digitais em debate

Section

Dossiê Diálogos com as Infâncias e as Juventudes

License

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