Digital Habits - Recap

Throughout Term 4, we hosted a series of presentations for parents on teens' digital habits. We appreciate the participation of those who attended. For anyone who missed the sessions, recordings are available on the Compass Newsfeed until the end of November.

Below is a summary of the key topics covered:

Social Media & Teens

There are many positive aspects to social media including staying connected, creativity and self-expressions, sense of belonging, development of digital literacy skills and promotion of knowledge sharing and accessibility of information.

Unfortunately, the concerning aspects of social media include cyber bullying and harassment, sleep deprivation, distraction and loss of productivity, spread of misinformation, addiction and the loss of valuable opportunities to practice face-to-face communication.

The introduction of the front-facing camera on phones and the development of apps like Instagram have aligned with an 81% increase of girls and 51% increase of boys requiring hospitalisation for mental health issues, as well as an average 30% decline of girls and boys satisfied with themselves in the same timeframe (Australia’s Health 2022 Data Insights).

37% of young people think social media is the main reason for the decline in youth mental health (Australia’s Health 2022 Data Insights). Social media app development capitalises on the developing adolescent brain, the release of the feel-good neuro-transmitter dopamine, gamification and the fear of missing out or FOMO.

Signs that your teen needs more support include spending excessive amounts of time online to the point where it disrupts their daily activities, mood changes, withdrawal from activities they once enjoyed or secrecy about their online behaviour by avoiding discussion or hiding screens

Gaming & Teens

Positive aspects of gaming include increased cognitive function (reaction, coordination), emotional relief and regulation, stress and anxiety relief and regulation, social connections and multi-tasking.

Concerning aspects of gaming include addiction, difficulty regulating emotion in real life (ie aggression), impacts on the family dynamic, decline in academic performance or school attendance, self-isolation leading to mental health concerns, stunted development communication skills and the nature of certain games influencing dysregulated behaviours.

Excessive gaming refers to playing for long periods of time in a way that interferes with daily life, responsibilities and wellbeing. Signs include neglecting responsibilities, negative impact on physical, mental and social health, gaming as the predominant coping strategy or loss of interest in other activities they once enjoyed.

Gambling - Young people who game are not necessarily more likely to gamble as adults, but there is a link between simulated gambling games and real money gambling with those playing simulated gambling games having a 40% higher probability of spending real money on gambling as young adults (e-Safety Commissioner).

Explicit Content & Teens

Sexting - A naked or sexually explicit picture or video of a person under the age of 18 years is child exploitation material and the making, transmission and possession of such images can result in serious criminal charges. However, Victoria has sexting laws to protect young people under the age of 18 years who engage in consensual sexting from criminal charges as a sex offender in certain circumstances. https://www.vic.gov.au/sexting.

One study showed most children who received (54%) and sent (51%) the sexting files said it was due to ‘romance as part of an existing relationship’. This motivation was followed by receiving (23%) and sending (11%) the files as a prank or joke. (e-Safety Commissioner).

Image-based abuse – sometimes called 'revenge porn' – is when someone shares, or threatens to share, an intimate image or video of a person without their consent.” - eSafety Commissioner.

Pornography - sexually explicit media primarily intended to sexually arouse the audience – has very much become mainstream and is widely available on the internet.

Half of all boys have seen porn by 13yo and half of all girls have seen porn by 15-16yo. Accidental exposure is incredibly easy and common – now more difficult to avoid it than see it.

Porn is arguably the prominent sex educator or young people, with young people saying sex education is too late and that their sexual experiences have been shaped by the porn they or their partners see.

Contemporary porn has become significantly more aggressive, and the porn industry are quite candid about the shift away from ‘lovey-dovey’ sex to now more aggressive, forceful, rough sex because that is what sells.

Notable increase in the popularity of non-consensual and degradation porn, overwhelmingly depicting aggression towards women, with 95% of aggression met with a positive response from women, sending the message that women like this kind of sex.

A significant amount of porn sends harmful and negative messages about sex and relationships such as mutual consent and safe sex are not important, violent sex acts are normal and appealing, the point of sex is to satisfy men, normalising sexual relationships where women have no power and normalising aggressive behaviour towards women.

Harmful to the developing brains of our teens by forming a habitual dopamine release from repeated exposure to porn that will build neural pathways that crave pornography, shaping their view of sex and the objectification of others, potentially developing an addiction leading to sleep loss.

Deep Fake Porn - explicit visual content created using AI technology - the technology can use deep learning algorithms that are trained to remove clothes from images of people and replace them with images of naked body parts.

Becoming increasingly common, with deepfake creators taking paid requests for porn featuring a person of the buyer’s choice. The e-Safety Commissioner also warns that open-source AI apps have proliferated online, are often free and easy to use to create damaging content.

Can be used as a tool for identity theft, extortion, sexual exploitation, reputational damage, ridicule, intimidation and harassment

The laws are still playing catch-up, but both the Federal and Victorian Governments are pushing to pass more legislation before the end of the year:

• Federal – it is an offence to use technologies to artificially generate or alter sexually explicit material (such as deepfakes) for the purposes of non-consensual sharing online
• Victoria – it is an offence to create and distribute non-consensual sexualised deepfake content

So, what can parents do to support their teens to manage their digital habits?

Have ongoing conversations about digital habits with your teens – there are excellent resources to help parents initiate and sustain such conversations on: 

• https://www.esafety.gov.au – hard-to-have-conversations
• https://raisingchildren.net.au - talking with teens about pornography
• Make changes slowly and involve them in planning changes – this gives them voice and agency which is vital in self-management and personal development
• Set limits and develop agreements – involving your teen about where and when screen time occurs and the protections that need to be in place to ensure their safety
• Plan positive experiences for your teen not involving screens – which will help decrease their time on social media and games, and minimise opportunities to access explicit content

What parents can do if your teen has taken, sent or received explicit images:

1.Remain calm & do not blame them - It is important that your teen feels they can talk to you about these kinds of topics

2.Find a quiet place to talk – share your concerns, allow them time to respond

3.Find out what has happened, who may be involved, who the images were sent to, where the images are now, who else may have them, were they pressured

4.Report to the:

• social media site
• ESafety Commissioner image-based abuse portal
• Principal - In some instances, police may need to be involved as schools have obligations in relation to reporting incidents. Please don't withhold information from the school because you are concerned about police involvement as they are best placed to deal with these issues to minimise the impact.
• Report to Police immediately if you believe that the 'sexting' is a result of your child being the victim of an online sexual predator.

DIGITAL HABITS TEAM

Tanya Moran – Inclusive Practices Leader

Mel Zulfic – Year 9 Year Level Leader and IT Teacher

Talea-Jane Simpson – Acting Wellbeing Leader

Tajinder Wulff – Mental Health Practitioner

Katrina Gyngell – Mental Health Practitioner