Guest blog by Christopher Roche
The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a range of challenges for educators across the globe. When countries went into lockdown and schools were closed, we had to come up with solutions to enable children to continue their education.
Even while recognising the diverse individual circumstances of different families and carers around access to the internet and devices, technology has played a huge role in ensuring that many children have been able to access learning at home.
Schools had to try to replicate what they had been doing face to face on online platforms. For many schools, much debate centred around synchronous or asynchronous instruction, and the opportunities and constraints each offered.
But whatever approach is used, a certainty from online teaching and learning is a massive rise in screen time for young people.
This increased screen time has had an impact on many aspects of our students’ lives, perhaps most importantly having implications for their mental health and wellbeing. Research has shown how increased screen time is associated with lower levels of life satisfaction and optimism, and higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms.
There have been a number of studies confirming the effects of such technologies on the developing brains of children and young people. One study published in 2021 has suggested heavy social media use has severe impacts on the mental health of teenagers, whilst another indicates that the link is perhaps less serious.
There are differences among boys and girls, with many studies suggesting that heavy social media use negatively affects girls’ mental health more significantly than that of boys.
As highlighted in the 2020 documentary film “The Social Dilemma”, social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are designed to be as addictive as possible, using complex algorithms to ensure maximal engagement and screen time on the part of users, by exploiting the dopamine reward system in the brain.
The documentary showed the serious challenges experienced by many children, adolescents and adults when trying to limit and regulate their use of such technologies.
In this context, there is now a great need to teach our future generations how to become responsible Digital Citizens, able to make wise choices and manage their use of these technologies. As a key part of this, school communities need to develop policies and strategies to promote and safeguard children’s digital wellbeing.
As well as ensuring that schools put systems in place to develop pupil understanding and self-regulation of their use of technology, we need to recognise that to do this they need support from adults.
To create a truly embedded program, we in schools need to work with parents to help educate them about the potential mental health impacts of excessive technology use, and offer guidance around the use of such technologies, encouraging them to be aware of their children’s digital lives.
Parents and educators can then work together to offer support and advice to children and adolescents from an informed viewpoint.
Through a series of online or face to face meetings or workshops, schools can cover topics to help families develop healthy behaviours to support children and young people to navigate the many challenges they face in the expanding digital world. This includes the blended online and face to face learning environment developing as lockdowns end.
As a key part of promoting more healthy technology use, schools can develop a ‘Digital Wellbeing Guide’ to support families at home and help students become responsible Digital Citizens able to progress in their educational careers and make more healthy choices when it comes to using technology in their lives.
A good Digital Wellbeing Guide will cover a variety of areas, including a ‘Home Technology Agreement’.
The modern family home typically now has a wide array of connected devices, PCs, Laptops, Tablets, Smart Phones, TVs, Games Consoles, Smart Home Hubs – the list seems endless.
It is important in the discussion to recognise the different circumstances of each family – including extended families, co-parenting in separate households, and single parents – and to adapt the Home Technology Agreement to cover these situations.
Some of the key features of an effective Home Technology Agreement include:
a) Screen Time
For many parents in the digital age, decisions over screen time and devices have become a major part of family life. Screen time needs to be monitored at home, as well as the type of screen: being creative with technology has far more benefits than pure consumption.
During the school week, as far as possible, it’s recommended to limit the use of screens at home for school work only – and of course in lockdown situations for social contact too.
It’s also strongly recommended that screens should not be used at least an hour before going to bed and not until at least an hour after waking up.
To help with this, there are many screen-time tracking and parental-control applications that will monitor which apps are being used in the household, for how long and by whom.
These include ‘Screen Time’ for iOS and ‘Digital Wellbeing’ for Android users.
b) Mobile Phone Agreements
Smartphones have become the most important piece of technology we own, connecting us with friends, keeping us updated on the world around us, and letting us capture our biggest moments.
Over recent years, a request from a child for their first phone has become the norm and giving this device to a child has in many cases become an accepted step.
It’s important that there is discussion and agreement around mobile phone use and screen time, so that boundaries are set from the outset.
c) Social Media Age Restrictions
Social networking sites continue to be popular with children and many children want to join one of the many available.
Although schools educate students on the risks of using social media and can promote numerous strategies on how to stay safe online, parents and carers also need to be aware of age restrictions for the different social media platforms.
It is always better to wait until the required age to join any social media service. These rules around age relate to privacy, but also are relevant to safety, safeguarding and mental wellbeing. Most social media sites have set 13 years as their minimum age requirement.
Young people also risk being exposed to content which is intended for older users when they use sites that are not designed for people their age. Some services offer additional protection for users registered as under 18, though by supplying a fake age young people can potentially evade some of this protection.
There are various websites which are great resources for any parent or carer who wants to take more of an active role in their child’s technology use. For example:
– Common Sense Media helps families make choices based on films, apps and games which their children want to use. It offers the largest library of independent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for films, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music. Their Parent Concerns section and Parent Blog help families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities facing children in the digital age.
– Ask About Games is a site that focuses on supporting families with gaming at home. It answers questions which parents and players may have about video games’ age ratings and provides advice on how to play games safely and responsibly. There are helpful tips to ensure families get the most out of the games they enjoy together.
– The Social Dilemma website also provides information for parents and carers to help educate themselves about the potential impacts of social media and technology use on the mental health of young people.
A major key to successful technology use is talking about technology use. There are many opportunities for children in schools to discuss technology use by providing the knowledge and skills to develop students into responsible Digital Citizens.
At home, parents and carers too can schedule time to discuss technology and its impacts, and how their children are using it in their lives.
Parents can be encouraged to share their own challenges around regulating their use of technology, and in this way, can be guided to have more constructive rather than potentially combative conversations with children and adolescents about an issue which can sometimes prove tricky to discuss without it becoming a source of conflict.
Given everything that has occurred through the pandemic, in many ways this still is one of the most exciting times to be alive especially when it comes to technological innovation.
Whilst socioeconomic and other factors have undoubtedly presented barriers to remote learning for some children whilst under lockdown at home, at the same time there are many young people around the world who have adapted to online education and greater use of technology for their social interactions.
As educators and families, we can now really start to support children and young people in their technology journey. By using some of the approaches listed above, schools can develop a Digital Wellbeing Guide in partnership with parents and carers, facilitating wiser technology use by children and adolescents in a way that is conducive to good mental health, so that digital wellbeing can become an important skill for life.
Christopher Roche is responsible for developing and leading the use of Digital Learning and the development of a strategic approach to Technology Enhanced Learning at Windlesham House School in England.
The vision he has created for Windlesham, known as ‘The Road Ahead’, aims to integrate technology so that it is part of the wider curriculum, enhancing and transforming learning and teaching experiences while supporting learning beyond the classroom, ensuring that Windlesham students enter Senior Schools as responsible Digital Citizens able to make wise choices with their use of technology. Christopher has presented at conferences in England and Asia on the topic of digital wellbeing in schools.
P.S. If you have something to say in response to this guest blog post, please comment below. We’d welcome your thoughts!
www.mentallywellschools.co.uk Mentally Well Schools is an online platform of evidence-informed free resources, comprehensive paid programmes and CPD to improve wellbeing and mental health in schools.
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