Wise words with...

Dealing with the challenges of a hyper-connected world

My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgement and discretion; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Proverbs 3:21-22

Do your children have smartphones? At what age are they allowed to have Instagram? What about Discord or Snapchat? These are some of the challenging questions parents and carers face in our hyper-connected world of social media and the internet. 

Brightly lit, vivid screens capture our imaginations and attention. In the 1920s, Nikola Tesla predicted the creation and total capture of the human imagination by digital technology and wireless connectivity. J. K. Raymond-Millet's French film Télévision: Oeil de Demain ("Television: Eye of Tomorrow" 1947) eerily, and somewhat humorously, depicted some of the realities of today. In 2022, there is a growing realisation that social media, smartphones and the internet are a Pandora's Box! This week, a national Omnipoll survey reported in The Australian newspaper that a third of respondents felt that these modern-day tools do more harm than good. 

So how do we as parents and carers, teachers and students deal with these challenges?

One novel solution recently reported in the New York Times described the story of an American teenage young person named Sivert. Sivert received $1800 from his mother for abstaining from social media for six years! Dubbed by the paper as an 'app-stainer', Sivert now plans to open an Instagram account but believes he is 'better-off' for going through his teenage years without social media. The mother involved certainly earns full marks for thinking 'outside the box’! 

Aside from headline-making solutions, what can we do as parents/carers, teachers and students? As a school, we do several things to educate our students. Our Years 3-6 Cyber Safety Poster frames student learning of wise internet use. Our Secondary School has a similar document that details the responsibilities of all stakeholders in using BYOD.

Agreements like these give our school community members clear expectations and shared culture around using computer technology. Commonsense Media provides helpful information so that parents/carers can make informed decisions about internet, gaming and social media use. Other resources include https://www.esafety.gov.au. 

Finally, having shared agreements among adults in our school community is extremely helpful. It may no longer be enough to have your own 'house rules.' Agreed, age-appropriate standard practices in our homes across classes, grades and our whole school are powerful. Connecting with other parents/carers in your child's class(es) is an excellent way to begin this process.

We all want our children and young people to learn to make sound judgements on what they use and do online. We know that a mature approach will lead to positive life experiences (Proverbs 3:21-22). As a community, our choices as adults can be a positive and life-bringing influence on students in our school community.