How can concerns around the amount of screen time for children be heeded while also fulfilling the need to support young people in inhabiting a digital present and prepare them for a digital future? Deputy Head (Safeguarding, Mental Health and Wellbeing) & DSL at King’s College School, Wimbledon, Richard Amlot, puts forward five suggestions.
One of the most urgent challenges of our times hinges around how to guide young people’s use of digital devices and smartphones. This is a challenge that must be met by educationalists, politicians and parents alike, ideally in tandem.
On the one hand, it is incumbent upon us to help prepare our young people for the digital future that they will inhabit. The vast majority of industries are being transformed by technology, and digital expertise is increasingly essential across all job sectors, from healthcare through to the arts. Digital literacy facilitates creativity, problem-solving and innovation, helping young people to shape their own futures and contribute meaningfully to society. And in the here and now, our students need to be helped to understand how to navigate, critically evaluate and in some instances create digital content to set them up for success, both in education and in their everyday lives…