The Nazarene

Wellbeing Report 

‘The Social Dilemma’ – Social Media 

‘We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? ‘The Social Dilemma’ is a documentary-drama hybrid revealing how social media is reprogramming civilization, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.’ https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/the-film/ 

Over the recent school holidays, I sat down to watch the Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ for the third time. As a parent of teenagers, I was particularly interested to learn more about the attraction of social media. 

 

Why are we so drawn in by these apps? What I found most enlightening about this documentary is that the people interviewed are experts in this field – they have been responsible for creating social media from the inside, having worked in high positions at Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook and Pinterest. They are the experts who have held leadership positions in these companies, and have been responsible for not just creating the content, but ensuring that the audience is captured and continues to ‘click’. Their insights are eye-opening!

 

There are certainly many positive aspects to social media, and social media platforms are here to stay, so it is important to understand how these programs are constructed to capture the audience’s attention, and also make money. Educating ourselves will assist us from falling into the trap of addiction and believing ‘fake news’, and enable us to educate our young people to do the same.

It is quite telling when at the end of the documentary, the experts, creators of these social media sites, are asked whether they would allow their children to use social media – 'my kids do not use social media AT ALL.' 'No social media until age sixteen'.

As the saying goes, ‘if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product’.

So, what can you do to minimize the negative impacts of social media? Protect yourself and your family by developing healthy social media habits, like:

  • Limiting screen time and turn off notifications, which are constantly trying to get you back online and keep you on your devices.
  • Know what task you want to complete on social media and don’t get sucked into the infinite scroll. 
  • Fact check before you share.
  • Limit where and when you use it, and have boundaries around it’s use in your child’s bedroom, and the dinner table. All devices out of the bedroom by a certain time. Negotiate a period of time for being on devices.
  • If it is making you feel anxious or depressed, take a break. 
  • Talk to your children about what apps they are on and how they use them, and encourage your children to use a variety of sources for learning about the world around them.

There are many more tips regarding safer social media use on our SchoolTV website:

https://nazareth.vic.schooltv.me/newsletter/social-media-and-digital-reputation

If you haven’t already watched this documentary, I highly recommend it.

 

Ms Jackie Kol

Director of Wellbeing