One of the most significant obstacles we face as educators and parents spends a significant amount of time in the palm of our hands: the smartphone.
As a society, we have become increasingly reliant on technology in our everyday lives, and we are still learning about the impact of instant-access devices and social media on the physical and mental health of young people. At Meriden, we have taken a deliberate and research-based approach to devices, for the sake of our students’ educational and emotional wellbeing.
This is a very serious matter. Smartphones and social media have caused a mental health crisis for adolescents. A recent study showed that adolescents who spend more than three hours per day on social media face double the risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Devices at Meriden
For many years at Meriden, we have required girls to either check their phones in at reception (Junior School) or keep their phones in lockers (Senior School). Girls who are caught using their phones during the school day will have consequences issued.
Phones have the potential to:
- Distract students during classes and tarnish their learning time
- Take students away from important socialising time, a key part of their development
- Make the girls less present in their in-person environments, due to the constant nature of notifications
Beyond phone use at school, research is beginning to uncover more and more about the harmful potentials of social media on adolescents, especially girls.
Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation makes a compelling case that social media can be particularly addictive and destructive for girls in late primary and high school, for a number of reasons, including the fact that girls tend to be higher users than boys.
At Meriden, we make several recommendations, which you can find in the final section of this article. Importantly, these can only be achieved effectively through collaboration, so I encourage all parents to consider them carefully and talk to each other about them.
Camps and Opportunities to Disconnect
On school camps, students are not allowed to use their devices. This policy is in place because we see the unique opportunity camp brings for girls to take a break from their screens, slow down and experience the beauty of God’s wonderful creation. By shutting out the noise of constant information and communication from others on their devices, students are given the opportunity to tune in to what is going on around them and connect with others in real and tangible ways.
During other times away from school, including holidays, we encourage the girls to seek out opportunities to carve out time in their days away from devices. To read a book, play games and share meals with friends and family, to move their bodies and get into nature. Technology is a wonderful tool in many ways, but connecting with others and creation reminds us of what it means to be a human created in the image of God.
As parents, sometimes we try too hard to clear the paths, remove the obstacles and make things easier for our children. This concept is known as “snow-plough parenting” and can contribute to a lack of self-reliance and poorer mental health outcomes. Participating in camps and other outdoor education programs helps children to become more independent. Gaining a sense of accomplishment occurs when a student completes a task or activity that initially appeared overwhelming or challenging, which can have a positive impact on their mental health.
Other Recommendations
Beyond our in-school policies at Meriden, we encourage parents to take a proactive approach to their daughters’ device use. These following guidelines, taken from The Anxious Generation, seem sensible, but many parents struggle to implement them because they feel that they may be holding a harder line than other parents. Students will often convince parents that everyone else is on social media, or everyone else has a smartphone and if they don’t get on board, they will be a social outcast.
That is why it is so important to develop a collaborative and cohesive approach that must include regulatory and legislative changes.
- No smartphones before high school: flip phones are (perhaps surprisingly) still available, and allow younger students to communicate with their parents and friends while avoiding the potential harms of social media.
- No social media before the age of sixteen – most social media platforms currently have age restrictions of thirteen, but they are not held accountable for policing the age of the user. This is akin to a pub or nightclub not policing underage customers. However, as Professor Haidt argues, sixteen would be a much more appropriate age, after the vulnerable early stages of adolescence.
- More free play and responsibility in the real world – This recommendation supports the message of Dr. Judith Locke who attended our parent forum in Term 1, 2024. Children should be given age-appropriate chores to do which helps to develop their responsibility and independence. More play time, whether that is unstructured in the backyard or local park, or structured sport activities, allows children to develop skills such as problem solving, communication and leadership skills.
Research and experience clearly highlight the importance of students having regular time every day to disconnect and grow in the real world. A united approach has a greater opportunity to be effective.