MOBILE PHONES & SOCIAL MEDIA
Why We Ban Them at School
In recent years, we have noticed an increase in comments from parents and carers about how their child seems too engaged with their mobile phone and interacting with others on social media platforms. We certainly see the end result of this, as often, interactions online between students become heated and escalate in a way that rarely happens face to face, or students disengage from others around them, becoming socially isolated, despite their number of virtual ‘friends’ or ‘likes’.
This year, we’ve been startled by the fact that students are starting to tell us they are unhappy about how dependent or attached they feel to their phones and using various social media apps.
We want their time here at school to be a time to give their brain a rest from the social media bombardment and for them to enjoy face-to-face interactions with their friends.
Students Leading the Way
We have a number of students who are making really mature decisions about their own social media use.
One of our Year 7 students recently took a three-month break from using the two social media platforms he was on after a conversation with his parents. He was very reflective about the experience, saying he thought that his experience using social media was 90% negative.
One of our Year 9 students in 2024 chose to limit mindless phone use as part of a school project. This student identified times of the day that he would use his phone unnecessarily. He scheduled his mobile phone use every day in order to maintain limits and monitored his health over the two-week trial, which improved in all measures.
Four of our current Year 9 students are in their final days at the School for Student Leadership. This is a term-long stay at a residential school, where they build their leadership, resilience, and citizenship skills. During the term, they have no access to mobile phones, social media, or video games, and have very limited internet access. There have been many positives to the students’ experience, and we are very proud of all they have achieved. It was interesting, during my recent visit, to ask them if they have missed having a mobile phone. The answer was immediate and anonymous: Not at all.
Below we have compiled a short list of RESOURCES that we have found useful.
Resources
The Algorithm of Disrespect
The algorithm of disrespect is a simulation of an average young person’s online experience.
https://www.respect.gov.au/algorithm-of-disrespect
The Role of a Lifetime: ABC iview
The Role of a Lifetime, takes a humorous but thoughtful look at the challenges and complexities of parenting teenagers in Australia today, and how the use of smartphones and social media is impacting our children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE8LjHdVTh0
eSafety Commissioner
The esafety commissioner has a range of resources and information for parents on how best to keep children and young people safe online.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents
Book: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
In The Anxious Generation, Haidt shows how, between 2010 and 2015, childhood and adolescence got rewired. As teens traded in their flip phones for smartphones packed with social media apps, time online soared, including time spent comparing oneself to a vast pool of others.
The Anxious Generation delves into the latest psychological and biological research to show the four fundamental ways in which a phone-based childhood disrupts development – sleep deprivation, social deprivation, cognitive fragmentation and addiction.
We have copies of The Anxious Generation in our school library if any families are interested in borrowing a copy.
Melissa McMillan
Assistant Principal