The time spent on screens has repercussions. Not only does it detract from precious family time and impact on the time spent on other pursuits including sport, hobbies and homework, it can create an unhealthy obsession amongst young people who feel the pressure to both be connected 24/7 and to live a life which can only be described as a ‘highlights reel’. Additionally, as young people engage more online, their ability to communicate face-to-face is affected, often to the detriment of their relationships with peers and connections in the real world.
I mentioned Facebook at the start of this article, but let’s face it, Facebook is probably the least of our worries today, as parents and educators. Whilst it may still be in the top five social media platforms Australian teens are engaging with, other more concerning platforms have come to the fore, including TikTok and Snapchat, which Susan McLean, a leading Australian expert in cyber safety, cites as two of the worst sites for online grooming.
Online grooming is a real threat to our young people at St Andrews Lutheran College, as it is for all young people. According to the data I collected, 67% of students in Years 7 to 9 at St Andrews use Snapchat and 50% of them use TikTok on a regular basis. Perhaps more concerning is that 35% of our Middle Years students have accepted a friend request online from someone they don’t know in the real world.
Groomers are increasingly sophisticated in the ways they gain a young person’s trust including pretending to be a young person themselves, using personal information they have gleaned from the child to build rapport and building secrecy into the friendship, so parents are kept in the dark. Before they know it, our young people can be caught up in something sinister, such as sextortion, which is the practice of extorting money by threatening to reveal information about someone of a sexual nature. Sextortion is rife in Australia, with 69% of 12 year olds having sent and received a sext, and children as young as five filming themselves and posting it online. The online world is truly a difficult world to navigate!
Such threats extend to the world of online gaming where are our young people are often engaging with people they don’t know. Of our Middle Years students, 60% are gaming on a regular basis. And further to the time that this is taking up and the people they are meeting, there are concerns about the content that is being consumed. For example, one of the most popular online games amongst our Middle Years students is Fortnite, at heart a battle royale game where the goal is to be the last person, team or squad left alive in a round, so lots of weapons and shooting.
According to the data, 17% of students in the Middle Years at St Andrews have received unwanted attention online, which can extend from grooming to things like cyber-bullying. The good news is, our young people do seem to be aware of actions they can take to stay safe online, including some of the following:
- Respecting self and others
- Standing up to cyber-bullies
- Protecting passwords
- Choosing privacy setting wisely
- Listening to gut feelings
- Talking to a trusted adult, including parents or a teacher
- Reporting, blocking and deleting contacts
- Involving the police where appropriate
Furthermore, and pertinent to an article such as this one, are tips for parents, including:
- Having clear guidelines around the use of technology
- Befriending your young person on social media so you can keep an eye on things
- Knowing the rules of the various social media platforms and apps
- Using parental controls such as apps that block websites, disable cameras, etc and staying current with technology
- Knowing what your young people are doing online and regularly checking their accounts
- Ensuring digital cameras are out of bedrooms and bathrooms, which McLean says can make things “harder for teens and less likely to happen”
Perhaps most importantly for parents is having open lines of communication with your young people. Not only is this vital for keeping abreast of what is happening online, but in the lives of your young people more generally. This involves really ‘talking’ to your young people as opposed to ‘communicating’, and ‘listening’ to them rather than ‘lecturing’. It extends to picking your battles wisely and ensuring your young people know that no topic is taboo. It is also important to be patient with them, keep a sense of humour and to be forgiving. Who knows, you might even gain back some of that precious family time!
At school, we will continue to educate our students about online safety, including the importance of privacy and confidentiality. And perhaps by working together in partnership - parents and the school - we can take the kidnappers to task and reclaim the lives of our young people.
Click Here to read more from Susan McLean, Australian expert in Cyber safety.
Click Here to view the eSafety Commissioner website. This is a source of valuable information and is also where young people and parents can make a report about online behaviours.
Kathryn Dendy
Head of Middle Years (Pastoral)
Note: The data for this article was collected as part of a survey conducted with the Middle Years students this week. A total of 278 students across Years 7 to 9 completed the survey, including 109 students in Year 7, 81 students in Year 8 and 88 students in Year 9.
Screen time and online safety are significant indicators of an individual’s mental health and wellbeing. Data in relation to other indicators, including sleep hygiene, physical activity and health, was also collected in the survey and will be explored in future articles.
As well as online safety, St Andrews Lutheran College is dedicated to educating students about mental health and wellbeing, and developing well-rounded students who are happy, healthy, and have meaning and purpose in life.
A friend remarked to me some time ago, in a rather wistful voice, that her son had been kidnapped by Facebook. For someone who has a 14 year old and works with teens on a daily basis, I could certainly relate, and no doubt you might feel similarly about the invasion that has been social media and other apps in the lives of our young people. To this point, you might be interested to know, especially if you are a parent of a student in the Middle Years at St Andrews Lutheran College, that 81% of our Years 7 to 9 students engage with social media on a regular basis, and nearly 20% of them are on screens for more than three hours a day, on average, excluding use of their laptop for schoolwork and homework. You may want to check if your young person has their screen time function enabled on their mobile phone – this report can provide you with very telling information!