Invicta Vlogs
Put down that Mobile Phone!
I am sure that the words ‘put down that mobile’ are said again and again in households up and down the country. Our children all love their mobile devices and getting them to reduce their time on the phone can be a real challenge.
Our ‘digital generation’ seem unable to live without them! A recent Childwise (http://www.childwise.co.uk/) survey, gathering results from 7 to 16 year olds, returned some rather interesting results. More than half of the children surveyed have their phones next to them as they sleep at night. 42% said that they keep their phones on them at all times, never turning them off and 44% said that if they were without a phone signal, they felt uncomfortable.
So, what can we do to support our children? Getting rid of phones does not appear to be an option. As adults, we make use of them for a number of things, so it would seem illogical to follow that line of thinking. Instead, perhaps it would make more sense to help young people learn how to manage them better. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is a real ‘driver’ for many to be continually checking what is happening in their ‘online playground’, leading to young people being more and more distracted. Our children have not yet managed to learn how to manage the compulsive desire to keep checking out what is online, unlike adults. So, what can we do to help them?
Firstly, perhaps we need to ensure that we are modelling the behaviours that we want our children to exhibit themselves more frequently. Setting some agreed family ground rules is a great place to start. This could include agreeing to leave mobile devices in a room, untouched, after a certain time each day. Maybe agreeing that when you are speaking to each other, no mobile devices are in use. Perhaps not using mobile devices during meal times, if you do not already have this in place, could allow space for more family conversations to take place. Consider setting a monthly ‘device challenge’ day where you, as a family, challenge yourselves to live without any mobile (or perhaps even electronic?) devices for a whole day. Whatever you choose, it needs to be manageable and sensible, as well as something that you can model, so as to set the example that you want followed.
Another avenue to explore is that of using the mobile devices in a different way. Considering focus times for revision and homework for example. Having mobile phones turned off and in a different room would be ideal. However, this may not be possible and could cause some young people to experience even stronger feelings of FOMO. A possible solution to this could be to use a timing or revision app. There are lots of these available, but Forest is a good example. The user decides upon the amount of time they want to focus for. They set this in the app and if they achieve it, by not using any other apps, they can grow a tree. The better they do, the more trees they grow and the larger their forest. If individuals fail to reach their target time, then they kill the tree. This can be a deterrent and the idea of having the most extraordinary forest can be really encouraging.
If using an app will not work, then perhaps just something simple like putting the device into airplane mode will. It means that the phone can be kept near, and it can be used to tell the time, so as alleviating possible worries associated with this. It also means that there will be no messages received; there will be no distractions, but the phone is close enough to ensure that a feeling of comfort is experienced as well.
Managing mobile device use at home can be a real challenge but agreeing rules together, setting the example that you want to be followed, and staying consistent is an excellent place to start. On top of this, engaging in conversations with our children is a wonderful way to find out what they are doing online, remain inquisitive and not accusatory. Join the social media ‘playgrounds’ children are using and get them to show you how they are using them. While you are doing this, you can then explore the idea of your children making more positive use of these digital playgrounds. Consider following positive influencers and individuals that have a strong message to share. In doing this, you can be sure that you are supporting your children in the best way possible and when they are online they will be exposed to positive messages.
The online world can be somewhat daunting, but it is not impossible!
If you want to look at any other resources, we have put together an Online Safety Portal, where we have bought together many different resources in one place:
https://invictagrammarschool.sharepoint.com/sites/e-Safety
With Safer Internet Day being on Tuesday, 11 February this year, it is definitely worth visiting the Safer Internet Day website:
https://www.saferinternet.org.uk/safer-internet-day/2020
At Invicta, we will be holding a number of assemblies and there will be form time activities going on as well. These will hopefully encourage all students to consider their online activities and to help support them in being safe when online, so that between us, we can work together on keeping all our children safe.
Mr Ehren
Deputy Head – Lower School; E Learning
