Principal's Page
Kia Ora - Greetings Friends
I recently received the following article from one of my mail subscriptions. It struck a chord with me, and I feel it is too valuable not to share.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
The rise of smartphones coincided with a dramatic increase in mental health issues among Generation Z. From 2012 onwards, we've seen a staggering rise in anxiety, depression, and even suicide rates among adolescents. This isn't just a coincidence; it's a profound shift in how kids grow up.
The key to understanding this change lies in what children have lost: unstructured, play-based childhoods. These have moved to a central point in their lives—the smartphone. Everything revolves around its linkages.
Children used to spend their free time playing outside, imagining, and interacting face-to-face. I went through all of my formal education years without mobiles. The activities I picked up were crucial for developing social skills, creativity, and emotional resilience—all things we know to be important in the Al age. But as smartphones became ubiquitous, these forms of play diminished. Kids are now more likely to be found staring at screens than engaging with the real world. The consequences of this shift are far-reaching.
One of the most significant losses is the opportunity for free play. Unlike structured activities, free play allows kids to make their own rules and solve problems on the fly. It's a form of exploration that can't be replicated on a screen. Instead, kids engage in virtual worlds designed by others, where the rules are pre-set, and the challenges are artificial. This shift from creating to consuming has stunted their growth in ways we are only beginning to understand.
The book's central claim is that these two trends—overprotection in the real world and underprotection in the virtual world—are the major reasons why children born after 1995 became the anxious generation.
Another crucial element missing in today's childhoods is attunement. This is the art of connecting with others, reading emotional cues, and responding appropriately. It's a skill developed through face-to-face interactions. When kids spend more time communicating through screens, they miss out on these essential social experiences. They don't communicate in the right way, at the right time. They lose the chance to practice empathy, patience, and cooperation. Their virtual interactions are often shallow, lacking in the depth and nuance of real-life conversations - the back and forth, rather than the group chat group think emoji reaction.
Social learning is also taking a hit. In the past, kids learned by observing and emulating the behaviours of those around them. Now, they're often influenced by the curated lives they see on social media. This isn't real learning; it's a distorted version of reality that can lead to unrealistic expectations and disappointment. Kids are bombarded with images of perfection that are impossible to live up to, leading to increased anxiety and depression.
Moreover, the constant access to smartphones has led to fragmented attention spans. Kids are now accustomed to multitasking, constantly switching between different apps and activities. This habit prevents them from focusing deeply on any single task. The result? A generation that struggles with sustained attention, which impacts everything from academic performance to personal relationships.
And then there's the issue of addiction. This is the issue that I'm most concerned with. Smartphones and the apps on them are designed to be addictive. They use a combination of external triggers and variable rewards to keep users hooked. For young minds, this can be particularly damaging. The constant need for stimulation can lead to symptoms of withdrawal when the device is taken away. This dependency on technology is not just a distraction; it's a barrier to developing healthy coping mechanisms and resilience.
What can we do to mitigate these effects?
The solution isn't as simple as taking away phones. It's about finding a balance. We need to create more opportunities for kids to engage in real-world activities. This means encouraging outdoor play, fostering face-to-face interactions, and setting boundaries around screen time. Teaching kids how to use technology responsibly is essential, emphasizing that it's a tool, not a crutch.
Ultimately, the goal should be to provide children with a balanced upbringing that includes digital and real-world experiences. By doing so, we can help them develop the skills and resilience they need to navigate an increasingly complex world. The challenge is not just to limit technology's negative impacts but to harness its potential in a way that complements traditional forms of play and learning.
The question remains: How can we create an environment that nurtures digital literacy and real-world competence? The answer lies in thoughtful, deliberate choices by parents, educators, and society. The issue is that it is complex and artificial. We can educate and put guardrails on this, but the pull of the digital device is almost embedded in us all now.
WHS Context:
We have a major focus on a Structured Approach to Play-Based Learning in our Junior School years. Some of the core principles of this approach are supporting children's engagement in creative play, engaging curiosity and inquiry, developing intra-personal and inter-personal skills, self-regulation, the ability to play alongside and then with others cooperatively, and stimulating oral language leading to literacy skills. This evolves into our Talk-to-Write programme.
A Message From NZEI to NZ Parents:
As teachers and school leaders, we go to work every day to support your children to succeed.
Our country's students are among the best in the world for creative thinking. They achieve in the top dozen countries in reading and science and score above the average of other OECD countries in maths.
New Zealand teachers are sought after globally because of our skills and expertise. From our own experience and research, we know that every child is unique. A teacher uses a whole toolbox of skills and expertise to personalise the learning that will best meet each child’s needs.
The current Government is fast-tracking a new math curriculum into schools next year. However, a standardised, narrower approach to teaching and learning is not consistent with expert advice about how to improve math teaching—and it could make it harder for us to meet students' diverse needs.
The real crisis we are facing in our schools is not teaching and learning but funding and resourcing. The lack of resourcing for learning support is a major barrier to meeting the needs of every child currently. This, combined with a persistent equity gap resulting from poverty, the housing crisis, and transience, has a significant impact on student achievement.
At least three in 10 students who need learning support – whether that’s a teacher aide or specialist support – are currently not getting it.
We pledge to do our best to support your child's and their classmates' learning, but we ask that you support our call for funding increases in education so that there is a teacher aide in every classroom and more specialist staff to support our tamariki.
Please talk to their teacher if you’d like to know more about these issues or ways to support your child’s learning. You know your child best, and as partners, we can work together to ensure that your child experiences success.
WHS Context:
We invest a large component of our available annual funding in providing Teacher Aide support for each classroom. We know from experience that this is the absolute best and most effective use of discretionary funds to support children's progress and learning.
As always - if you have questions or concerns about anything school-related - email me at macash@mac.com, and I will get back to you asap.
My very best regards to you all,
Ash Maindonald
Principal.
