Principals Reflection

The nineteenth century French author, Victor Hugo, is quoted as saying, “Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.’ The way we live is changing. Each year, our free time shrinks a little more as computers clamour for an increasing percentage of our attention. We are a part of, and a contributor to, the change that is associated with a ‘computer age’. The amazing contradiction of our age is not so much the ability to connect to such a wealth of information, but the apparent ‘disconnect’ that is so often associated with social media, one important aspect of our computer age. I am old enough to remember teaching ‘the Internet’ to academics at a university, exploring the amazing online databases and the growing importance of being ‘information literate’ – having skills in discerning ‘fake news.’ I remember vividly that almost always, the first search undertaken by these academics was…their own name. Research in the field of online information is burgeoning since the time at the turn of the last century that I was involved in these activities and a recent publication should provide us with a degree of confidence that our students/children are more aware than ever of the costs and benefits of the online information environment.  The Australian Government through the eSafety Commissioner published ‘Mind the gap: parental awareness of children’s exposure to risks online’ in February 2022. A summary of the findings of this comprehensive report is included in this Newsletter, however, five key findings include:

• Young people engage in a wide range of online activities and experience many benefits from using the internet:
  • Many children have gone online for health information, searching for material about menta and, physical health.  
  • A third of children looked for emotional support online from friends and/or mental health support services.
• Significant numbers of children have had negative online experiences: 
  • Close to half of the children surveyed were treated in a hurtful or nasty way online in the past year. 
  • A quarter of the children had themselves treated someone in a hurtful or nasty way online. 
• Almost all children did something in response to a negative online experience – most commonly telling their parents. 
• Many parents underestimate the prevalence of children’s negative online experiences, and many are not aware of their teens’ exposure to negative content or sexual material online.
• Children with restrictive parents are less likely to be exposed to harmful content, but they are also much less likely to engage in supportive and protective online activities.

Complementing this sudy was an earlier US study (2019) that drew from nationally representative surveys of 11 million young people as well as in-depth interviews. ‘iGen’, a book by Dr Jean Twenge, was the first book to document the cultural changes shaping today’s teens and young adults, documenting how their changed world has impacted their attitudes, world views, and mental health. With generational divides appearing to be wider than ever, parents, educators, and employers have an urgent need to understand today’s rising generation of teens and young adults. Born after 1995, iGen is the first generation to spend their entire adolescence in the age of the smartphone. With social media and texting replacing other activities, iGen spends less time with their friends in person – perhaps indicating why some statistics indicate that they are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

Dr Twenge’s studies highlight the point that technology is not the only thing that makes iGen distinct from every generation before them; they are also different in how they spend their time, how they behave, and in their attitudes toward many topics; they socialise in completely new ways, reject once sacred social taboos, and want different things from their lives and careers. Anxiety and depression are very closely related to each other, being two sides of the same coin.

Without wanting to be labelled a Luddite, these recent, comprehensive studies are extremely interesting in that almost everything that you can do that is not on a screen is linked to more happiness - spending time with friends in person, going to religious services, sports and exercise, even homework. However, several studies have found that almost everything that is on a screen is linked to less happiness - social media use, ‘serendipitous’ internet searches, texting. Twenge’s studies highlighted two studies that followed people over time and the results concluded that spending a significant amount of time on social media leads to unhappiness but being unhappy doesn't lead to spending more time on social media. Another study randomly assigned people to give up their Facebook page for a week, or not. And those who gave up Facebook ended the week happier, less depressed and less lonely. Screentime in school, at St Patrick’s, however, is aimed to be purposeful and focused – the use of computers at St Patrick’s offers students, staff and parents considerable opportunities for enhancing outcomes, without compromising welfare, because the usage is time-defined, purposeful and often creative and collaborate. The research indicating the correlation between screen-time and unhappiness focuses more on social media rather than the educational use of computers.

Parents and educators cannot afford not to be part of discussions regarding online engagement. There is no doubt that our involvement in the ‘computer age’ will continue to present us with the potential for enormous benefits, and the potential for considerable costs – as with being part of any era, if we feel that we are merely ‘flotsam and jetsam’ in the midst of a fast current, our engagement with the many benefits that we currently view in schools and in education of being part of the computer age may be lost. Thank you to all in our school community who support our endeavours to equip our children to be informed and active positive contributors to ‘their age.’

Regards   

Rod Linhart (Principal)