Senior School

Control your Scroll

On Wednesday, 14 February Tom Clark and Xavier Chalkley from Control your Scroll presented to our Year 12 cohort.  Their aim was: 

“To empower students with the knowledge and skills to take control of their phone use and live a more balanced life. Through engaging presentations, we aim to inspire and educate as many students as possible, equipping them with real-life strategies and techniques to reduce phone addiction and promote well-being. We believe that by promoting healthy phone habits, we can help students unlock their full potential and thrive both academically and personally.”

It was interesting to hear how the idea of Control your Scroll came into being. It started for Tom during an extended stay in Italy where he was lucky enough to spend nine months studying as part of his university course, after leaving St Patrick’s College. 

He had taken some time to visit the beautiful town of Matera in southern Italy, the backdrop to scenes from the James Bond movie, “No time to Die”.  On the train back to Rome, Tom’s phone told him that he had spent eight hours on his phone during his trip.

Eight hours with his eyes on the screen instead of the scenery around him.  Shocked by this he started researching and with his friend Xavier developed Control your Scroll so that others can benefit from what the research was telling him. 

During their presentation Tom and Xavier provided the boys with some concerning statistics on phone use by the average person, such as the fact that students attention begins to decline after two-minutes due to device distraction. They went on to discuss the tactics that social media companies such as Instagram, Facebook and Tik Tok implement to get the user onto their product and staying on their product and how this can have a negative impact on the boy’s sleep patterns, mental health and ability to recall and focus.  

The most beneficial element of the presentation followed as Tom and Xavier went on to provide the boys with strategies that they can implement to empower them to limit the use of their phones, including apps that allow you to restrict the times you receive notifications from your social media accounts, and adjusting colours on your phone from red notifications to a more neutral grey screen. 

For parents with sons in Year 12, ask them what strategy they learnt from the session that they plan to implement to ensure they control their phone, rather than the other way around.  I have already taken several of their strategies and implemented them in the hope of improving my overall approach to life. 

Parent Information Session

For those of you who were unable to attend the Senior School Parent Information Night, you can watch a recording of the session here.