TV, gaming and social media all went up during lockdown. Only two of them went back down.
A study of 14,000 students from the University of South Australia found that between 2018-2022, daily social media usage went from 26% to 85%. This year, the researchers checked back in. As expected, hours spent went up during lockdown, as did gaming and TV watching. But unlike the other two, social media never went back down.
The impact has been profound. The number of kids who ‘never read for fun’ has gone from 11% to more than 50%, extra-curricular music has halved, and kids who ‘never participate in the arts’ has tripled.
This is the stuff we don’t see. While bullying, body image content, social comparisons, catfishing, privacy breaches and all the other dangers are real and need to be addressed, the biggest impact is not what social media is adding - it’s what has been removed. The average primary school kid spends as much time looking at a screen for non-educational purposes as their entire summer holidays combined. The average teenager? More than double that.
In less than a decade, an entire generation’s basic building blocks of development has been swept aside by screens. It doesn’t have to be this way - below are four ways your school can play a role.
Messaging (no, not Facebook Messenger)
Newsletters, parent forums, posters in classrooms, online blogs, wherever it might be seen. Keep repeating the message, and when you think they’ve heard it enough, repeat it again. Instagram shows you the same ad over and over for a reason (it works), so flip the script.
Modelling (no, not Instagram)
When teachers and school leaders (and parents especially) are modelling healthy device habits as best they can, the kids notice. By contrast, if they grow up thinking they’re the second most important thing to a small black rectangle, they notice that as well. Putting it away during conversations, creating healthy personal digital boundaries, more face-to-face classroom engagement - this stuff goes a long way.
Match-making (no, not Tinder)
Bring together like-minded families who want to say ‘no’ but find it too hard on their own. Host parent evenings and/or partner with organisations such as Wait Mate or the Heads Up Alliance, which will help parents see they’re not alone and if they act together, the peer pressure fades.
Moderating (no, not Discord)
Young people are more likely to listen if they feel they have been heard. Involving their voice in these discussions can help bridge understanding between students, staff and parents, bring to light new issues, and learn about the biggest barriers they face. Often the best solutions come from the students as well - student-led initiatives, student surveys, and combined parent-student forums are a few ways to start.
Remember, schools are still a trusted source of information in a time when reputable information and face-to-face collaboration are rare. Let's use that to our advantage.
Written by Nick Kenny. First published on LinkedIn.