From the Head of Calrossy Middle School (Yrs 7 - 9)

Week 5 at Calrossy is the Week of Wellbeing, and it also happens to be Book Week. Along with an opportunity for students to dress up as their favourite book character, we are also giving students the chance to take up the opportunity to engage in a bit of “technology down, books up”. That is, we will be encouraging students to put down their phones, tablets, laptops, game machines and to pick up a good, old-fashioned, paper, book.

This has a two-fold effect. First, we could all do with a bit of a digital detox. Research consistently shows that increased time spent on social media and in the online world has negative effects on our mental health and overall wellbeing. Most of us are, students and parents alike, addicted to the easy dopamine hit that we get from our light-emitting, teleportation devices that have the unbelievable ability to transport us out of any tedious or boring situation into a world of information, entertainment, and stimulation. We seldom get the opportunity to daydream, to be bored, to have to invent our own fun. All of us could do with a bit of ‘devices down’.

Secondly, the benefits of reading are also well-documented. Last summer, I went back to New Zealand for the holidays and I ambitiously took several books with me. What struck me was just how out of practise I was at reading. You wouldn’t think it was hard, and I read every day—emails, texts, news items, internet articles—so it wasn’t that I couldn’t decode the words. But, I was out of practise at the ability to sit and read in a sustained way. I would find my mind wander all too quickly, and I found it hard to get ‘lost in the book’. I don’t know if you recall the feeling of being really absorbed in a book: the world around you fades into the background; time slows down; you get so into it that you don’t want to put it down. I remembered the feeling, but I found it hard to do. But I persevered. And over the days I got better and better at really getting into the book. And, it was a truly relaxing and refreshing thing to do. All of us could do with a bit of ‘books up’.

Why don’t we all commit to next week being a week of ‘devices down, books up’. Why don’t we set the tone and model it to our children? And may we all get enriched in the wonderful experience of deep, sustained, reading.

Sam Anderson

Head of Calrossy Middle School (Yrs 7 - 9)