Deputy Principal

The Dreaded Scroll

During the holidays, I pondered the amount of time we, as individuals, spend using social media. Having seen my own children scrolling through their phones during the holidays, I was particularly interested in the use of TikTok. I spent several hours on public transport over the last three weeks observing a number of people, who I would say, were aimlessly scrolling through TikTok. Most of the content that I observed was what I would consider a waste of time and certainly would not add to the intellectual capacity of the user. 

How much time do our children spend on social media? A report released earlier this year by Qustodia, which had a sample of 400,000 homes and 10,000 schools across the US, UK, France, Spain and Australia, showed that children spent two hours per day on TikTok, 79 minutes on Instagram, 78 minutes on Snapchat and WhatsApp and 86 minutes on YouTube. That is just over six hours per day on social media.

I know I need to look at this with an open mind. My children, our students and others will tell me that there is so much information that is useful on these platforms. From tutorials on how to do your hair (yes, I have two daughters) to recipes, to tutorials to help solve maths equations, it is all there right at their fingertips. I also must admit that while standing on the light rail, I saw someone much younger than me who, instead of getting their news from a news publication, was watching the Prime Minister walk the Great Wall of China on TikTok. 

Like most things, I think we need to have open and honest conversations with our children about having balance. Holidays are a time to relax. Relaxing, however, should not include six hours of scrolling on social media. We need to encourage our children to spend time with their friends and interact with their families. If they are old enough, consider getting a part-time job that teaches them valuable social skills. I am a strong believer in our children playing sports, as this also gives them a balanced lifestyle.

The other conversation we must have with our children is about the accuracy of what is shared on social media. I have had students tell me straight out things that are untrue, which they fully believe are true, as they have seen it on social media. As parents/carers, we need to encourage digital literacy and fact-checking. This issue is becoming so important with the evolution of AI and the ability of AI to impersonate real people and comment on events that they have no real knowledge of, except for the fact that AI has collected and interpreted information that it has been given access to.

Social media has its place in society. However, education is key. We as parents/carers must educate our children on how to use it, regulate it and have open conversations. Social media and AI are evolving by the second and we all must engage with it to protect our children and help them to navigate a world that is very different from when we were growing up.

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal