How one Luxembourgish school promotes a social media detox challenge

For a parent today, one of the biggest problems is how to control and limit a child's screen time without completely shutting them off. Countries around the world are looking at more and more stringent measures to curb internet use among minors.

Last April in France a report by the commission on children and screens, entitled "In search of lost time", was published and raised crucial questions about the regulation of predatory app design, media literacy and young people's access to social networks.

Among the recommendations raised in the 140 page document was the banning of the use of smartphones before the age of 13.

Further afield in China, a proposal was made by the Cyberspace Administration last summer to dramatically restrict internet access for children under 18. Clear evidence of the war it is waging on uncontrolled screen time. Under the proposals, the cyberspace regulator suggested internet access between 10pm and 6am would be blocked for this age group.

Further measures mooted would see children between the ages of eight and 16 allowed only one hour per day on the internet, while children under eight would get 40 minutes of usage per day. A maximum of two hours per day would be permitted for teens between 16 to 18.  
 
Draconian or prudent approaches? It all depends on your viewpoint. Whatever way you look at it the fact remains that excessive screen time is becoming a major issue, according to Marco Foz, Digital Learning Coordinator at St George’s International School.

Mindful of the level of saturation kids can be exposed to online, the Luxembourg school recently introduced a social media detox challenge for its students. 
 
Although the use of phones is not allowed between 8am and 3.15pm, the concern is centered on the time students spend online once they leave school. 
 
“These young people grow up with a smartphone and everything they do, including schoolwork, which is often communicated via an online platform, is online. They have to find these tasks online. They have to very often find resources that are online so we all play a role in that sense as we do share a lot of it digitally.”

“So that does not help with screen time. But at the same time, everybody has a smartphone and it is very positive in a sense if we use it for the right reasons. We must be aware that if it becomes too addictive, parents and schools must intervene because it affects attention and focus.”

“Young people don't have that sense of control yet so we need to support them.”

This interest in students’ wellbeing has prompted a significant emphasis on teaching online safety.

Fact or fake 

Raising awareness about the negative effect that social media can have on young users as well as being clued into the concepts of misinformation and fake news perpetuated online is at the fore of St George’s education programme.

Along with the social media detox challenge, another initiative organised at the school to foster safe and healthy online habits and behaviour is Internet Safety Day, Mr Foz explained.

The one-day event has even been extended to Internet Safety Week, a clear nod to how important it is to unpick this growing area of concern. Numerous activities take place to help ingrain the message of digital safety for young users, he said.

“We share a lot of information about online safety with students but also with staff and parents. We usually have assemblies on this topic and I work very closely with the pastoral team to target some year groups.” 
Mr Foz points out that one of the goals of the assemblies is to encourage the young students to develop critical thinking skills.

With the perpetuation of fake news and disinformation an ever-growing issue thanks to the rapidly changing social media landscape, the focus is on equipping children to work out what’s fact and what’s fake.

The year groups age 12 and upwards are found to be the most active on social media and they often lack awareness of the negative impact it can have on their impressionable minds, accepting wholesale what they see. 
“It’s about raising awareness that not everything they read about or see on Tik Tok or Instagram is actually true.”

Social media detox 

The detox challenge, which took place recently, was composed of a specific list of targets given to students to encourage them to spend less time online.

According to Mr Foz, some of the challenges included switching off notifications to promote better sleep so the students aren’t woken up in the middle of the night.

Another task was to activate screen time control on their phone to limit the duration they spend scrolling.
 
Turning off the phone at bedtime or handing it over to a parent to keep it overnight was another suggestion made as part of the detox.

Also, logging out of all social media for one or two days and finding alternative activities like reading, playing board games with their family or going outside was also recommended. 
Mr Foz added that the challenge was measured by a survey completed by parents and students at the end of the detox.

“We wanted to see how many of them could actually complete the challenge. The results of the survey work as a starting point for developing future initiatives. The challenge was mostly successful. The vast majority of students managed to complete some of the targets and have realised the benefits and have understood the purpose of the challenge. I am optimistic about the future of these kids."

Parental buy-in 

And parental involvement is paramount, he emphasised. “It is a whole community challenge and everyone needs to be on board otherwise it is not going to be as successful as we wish. All this requires parental buy-in.” 
Sharing information with parents is a large part of the school’s strategy and a coffee morning is also held during the school year focusing on online safety.

“From the discussions I have had with parents, they very often confess that they are guilty of being on their phones or laptops all the time. It’s the parents’ responsibility to set rules about how long they can use their smartphones. It is very important for parents to have conversations about this with their children at home. A lot of it needs to happen at home.”

Mr Foz offers the following tips for promoting healthy and responsible internet use at home:

• Start with a productive conversation with your child about their online use and negotiate putting rules in place.
•  Set up a contract that everyone is bound to. Included in the contract can be a stipulation that at dinnertime everyone must put away their phone and try and enjoy one another's company without interruption from phones. 
• Offer a reward if your child puts their phone away for a period of one or two hours. 
• Be interested in what your child is viewing online. Do your best to engage with them by asking them questions such as: what the latest trend they have seen online? or what kind of people do they follow on Instagram? 
• Parents need to be a positive role model for their teen with their own social media habits and help set a good example for them to follow.