The Phone Pledge hosted its ‘It Takes a Village: Raising Kids in a Digital World’ event on Wednesday, September 10, with 400 parents filling the Moama Bowling Club.
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The event aimed to explore youth mental health, digital wellbeing and the impact of technology on kids.
Experts in mental health, neuroscience and psychology joined Phone Pledge founder Stephanie Challis to discuss a range of issues regarding the impacts of social media and technology on youth.
The first speaker of the night was renowned psychologist Dr Justin Coulson, best known for co-hosting the Parental Guidance show and his Happy Families podcast.
During his keynote presentation, ‘Unplug Childhood’, Dr Coulson said not enough was being done to help keep children safe, and the issue started with their access to devices.
“We talk about how we love our children, but as a society, as a community, we don’t do nearly enough to protect them,” he said.
“The minute you give your child a phone, their world will change for ever and so do yours ... once the screen comes into their life, it becomes the gravitational pull of their life, it becomes the centre of their universe.
“More and more people are saying we need to delay children’s access to these devices for as long as possible, but unfortunately there’s still quite a lot of work to do.”
Throughout his presentation, he also highlighted the importance of giving children a play-based childhood and building a community to keep children connected without devices.
Dr Coulson also noted that if some parents had already given their children devices, monitoring their use and implementing age appropriate boundaries was vital.
His strongest advice to help children create healthy relationships with technology, however, was for parents to set the example.
“We need to model it,” he said.
“You cannot blast your kids for their excessive or inappropriate device usage if you’re on yours all the time.
“We need to demonstrate mindfulness so when the time comes, they know what a healthy relationship with technology looks like.”
Following on from Dr Coulson, SmackTalk founder Wayne Holdsworth joined the event via video call to give a brief presentation about online sextortion and suicide prevention.
SmackTalk was created in honour of his son, who took his own life at 17 years of age, as a result of being sextorted.
Since losing his son, Mr Holdsworth has been a strong advocate for social media reform and increased education around the dangers of the online world.
Through his presentation, he shared the impact of sextortion on families and the need for parents to be more active in their children's lives.
In the second half of the evening, Mrs Challis facilitated a panel between cognitive neuroscientist Mark Williams, local mental health social worker Tracey Farrell and Dr Coulson.
Mrs Challis asked the panellists a range of questions, including whether the panic about the new digital age was valid, how they handled the issue of screens in their own homes and their own observations of the impact of technology.
With new laws to be implemented in December regarding social media age restrictions, the panel also spoke about what changes might come and how parents could navigate them.
The evening left parents with plenty of new information to digest and expert advice on strategies they could implement to create positive change in their children’s lives.
Local dad Charlie Bedworth was among the many who attended the evening and said the evening left him with a lot to reflect on.
“I’m so glad I came,” he said.
“We had a lot of tech at school and things ... It's had a big impact on my life.
“We have a little one ... I’m aware of myself trying to limit my use, because I spend a lot of time on it for work. So I’m very aware of her growing up and doing all that.”
Mr Bedford added that his greatest takeaway from the night was to be more open and remain vigilant when it came to children.
“I’d say listening to your kids, really having open discussions and being very aware and keeping your eyes peeled for what’s the next thing and how to manage that,” he said.