As we look toward the end of the academic year and the upcoming holidays, I ask our community to reflect on the impact social media can have on adolescents, particularly our boys.
The term ‘social media’ conjures up polarising views within our community. On one hand, students are incredibly fortunate to live in an age where a wealth of information is at their fingertips. In terms of access to information, we could argue that they are more powerful than any previous generation. On the other hand, the sheer volume of information they are confronted with is staggering and hard to comprehend. Our students are bombarded with so much ‘stuff’ that trying to make sense of it all can be overwhelming. Different trends, fashions, news, gimmicks, crises, pandemics, celebrity gossip, and conspiracy theories are thrown at them at a million miles an hour, without any form of regulation. Adding to this, there is significant evidence highlighting the negative impact that too much screen time can have on sleep, sustained concentration, and self-esteem.
I can see some merit in social media. It’s a great way to stay in touch with people, communicate snippets of information, and voice opinions and ideas on an easily accessible platform. We even have our own social media pages (Facebook and Instagram) that we use to highlight some of the great things happening around College. However, herein lies one of the issues. If you were to browse through our pages, you would only see the school through the lens of all the positive things happening at College. I struggle to remember the last time we posted about a student receiving a detention, a budget being blown out, or one of the many mistakes the Executive Principal makes. Social media is not reality, and if wellbeing is premised on having a sense of perspective, social media does not provide that.
One of the biggest issues we face is the meteoric rise of algorithms. Earlier this year, I heard concerning reports about the influence social media personality Andrew Tate was having on some students. My curiosity got the better of me, so I looked him up online to check it out for myself. I was disturbed to see some of the vitriolic things he was saying, which I could only characterise as racist, homophobic, and misogynistic. What was perhaps even more concerning was that when I checked YouTube the following day, my recommended section was flooded with Andrew Tate videos and content from people of the same ilk. I decided to click on a few videos and realised that the more I clicked, the more extreme the content became. These algorithms seem to exploit our teenagers, who are naturally curious.
This leads to the paradox of living in a global village while retreating into our own small paradigms. Due to these algorithms, we are increasingly surrounded by people who look like us, think like us, and share the same political views. As a consequence, we sometimes fail to challenge our own assumptions. Unfortunately, this can lead to people accepting only information – whether true or not – that fits their opinions, instead of basing their opinions on evidence.
Another facet of social media is the fact that many of our young people live their lives online. Everything they do, eat, or experience is posted online. Unfortunately, what they often fail to realise is that every time they post a picture or status, they are leaving a historical record. Our boys need to understand that whatever they post online is there to stay and can resurface when they least expect it. My fear is that, despite our efforts, many of our boys do not truly comprehend this point.
One of the hardest conversations I’ve had with parents is when they come to me because their child has sent inappropriate photos of themselves to their boyfriend or girlfriend, only to have it shared with others. Inevitably, parents ask what they can do to remove it, offering to do whatever it takes. The sad reality is that once the content is shared, there is nothing you can do about it. You’ve effectively lost control of the content. And these are good students, from good homes, who have simply made a mistake but will have to live with it forever as it potentially resurfaces time and time again.
Now, I don’t have any silver bullet answers, but I think we need to ask the questions: How can we help our boys deal with the negative impact of social media? How can we work together to understand the implications of social media and navigate our way through a communications platform that has become so normalised within our communities?
What College can do:
- Run cyber-safety seminars that highlight the challenges of social media
- Teach the boys the importance of critical thinking, including understanding the origin of sources, bias, and how to critically assess the limitations of evidence
- Incorporate social media units into our programmes
- Limit the use of mobile phones throughout College
- Deal firmly and effectively with any online bullying.
What parents can do:
- Educate themselves about the impact of social media
- Discuss their son’s social media use
- Regulate the use of mobile phones and social media at home.
What our boys can do:
- Regulate their own social media use
- Delete, rather than share, harmful content via social media
- Not be passive when they see others using social media inappropriately.
Helpful links:
- https://netsafe.org.nz/
- https://www.internetmatters.org/
- https://www.dia.govt.nz/Social-media-platforms
