72 Jamie Farber, EdD centruty skills (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009; Jones & Doolittle, 2017). SEL is a commonly used term today to describe these skills as evidenced by issues of educational journals and a study conducted by Edge Research (AASA, 2018; ASCD, 2018; Learning Forward, 2018; Loeb et al., 2016). While various SEL frameworks exist throughout the United States, the CASEL has designed one of the most commonly used frameworks (CASEL, 2019b). The CASEL framework of SEL competencies was used for the current study (CASEL, 2017). Survey Instruments The researcher analyzed various survey instruments surrounding digital devices and SEL. The existing digital device surveys centered primarily on addiction or problematic use (Kuss et al., 2018; Kwon, Kim, et al., 2013; Kwon, Lee et al., 2013; Lin et al., 2014). The researcher desired an instrument that was not focused on addiction for the current study, thus the researcher created the Digital Environment Survey for Youth (DESY). In its final form, the DESY consists of 16 questions related to three categories: presence of digital devices, communication preferences and abilities, and ability to control time on devices. With a renewed focus on SEL, many instruments are on the market today to measure SEL skills in students. Two primary guides served as a resource in selecting an instrument aligned to the CASEL competencies: the Social-Emotional Learning Assessment Measures for Middle School Youth and The SEL Assessment Guide (CASEL, 2019a; Haggerty et al., 2011). Through research of SEL instruments, the SEL-C was selected (Tripod Education Partners, 2018). Summary of Findings The purpose of the current study was to determine the impact of the digital environment on students’ socialemotional skills by analyzing the social-emotional competencies in relation to the presence of digital devices, students’ preferred communication methods and abilities, and the students’ ability to control their time spent on digital devices. The digital environment was assessed through the DESY, a researcher constructed instrument. The SEL-C was used to measure students’ social-emotional skills in five areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decisionmaking (Tripod Education Partners, 2018). The relationship between the digital environment variables and the social-emotional competencies were analyzed through determining Pearson r correlation coefficients. The Pearson r correlation coefficients for the analyses can be found in Table 1. A significant negative relationship exists between the presence of digital devices and the following social-emotional skills: self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. There was no relationship between the presence of digital devices and students’ social awareness. In evaluating students’ preferences for digital communication, all five social-emotional competencies were negatively associated with the tendency towards digital communication. Lastly, in considering students’ ability to control the time spent on digital devices in relation to the social-emotional competencies, a significant negative relationship was found between their ability to control time on devices and their self-awareness, self-management, and responsible decisionmaking skills. No relationship was found between their ability to control time on devices and their social awareness and relationship skills. The results demonstrate that 80% of the relationships tested reflect a significant negative correlation between the students’ digital environment and their social-emotional skills. The remaining 20% of the relationships tested did not demonstrate a relationship. Thus, as the digital environment variables increased, students’ scores on the social-emotional scales decreased. Implications of the Study on Theory, Research, and Practice Several researchers tout that technology has affected today’s youth negatively in the social and emotional realm (Borba, 2016; Dunckley, 2015; Kardaras, 2016; Turkle, 2015; Twenge, 2017). While the digital environment definitely demonstrates a relationship to students’ social-emotional skills, most of the effect sizes are small. This leads one to believe that the causes of students’ social-emotional difficulties are multifactorial in nature. The two lowest social-emotional skills for the participants were self-awareness and self-management. Additionally,
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