How can we work together to support our young people to avoid and cope with the effects of negative social media?

There is no easy answer to the question I have posed above. Social media and digital technology is all around us and very much embedded in our lives.  Instead of calling out "see you later' to their friends as they leave school at the end of the day, I now hear our students saying, "see you on Fortnite".  For this generation of students a vast amount of their life is spent socialising on-line in a virtual world.

At GEIS, students use digital technology as a learning tool, but we ensure that the use of devices is restricted to the classroom and that all mobile phones are locked in the class safe for the day.  Devices are also locked away during break-times.  Our network filtering systems protect students from accessing inappropriate websites and any inappropriate google searches are 'red-flagged' and notification is sent to our Digital Learning Leader.  

However we, of course, do not have any control over what students are doing on-line outside of school hours.  Since our return from the holiday break, we have already had to deal with a number of out of school social media issues that are impacting on our students.  The common theme is Instagram posts and chat and often this activity in occurring late at night.  

We usually find that the students involved in these issues are very aware of what is okay and not okay, but get caught up in the exchanges.  As a school we are constantly  promoting 'digital citizenship' within class learning programmes and also reinforce these messages through our daily TV show, Cactus.

Schools and whanau need to work together to help our young people successfully navigate the pros and cons of social media.  I encourage you to have a read of the article 'Coming of age on social media' posted in this newsletter by our Digital Learning Leader, Matt Balchin.  There is also some great advice for parents available on the following links:

keepitrealonline.govt.nz

https://www.familyzone.com/geis-school-nz

Ngā mihi nui

Maree Stavert