When I go running, I do not wear headphones or earbuds. I want to be present, and fully so. I also need to be alert to possible traffic or scooters whizzing past me, or other people. It is my time to disconnect. I value my time running and consider it sacred time: to listen to the sound of my feet on the pavement, to rhythmically tune into the cadence of my steps, and to do just one thing and one thing only: run!

For many of our children and adolescents they are constantly – and by this, I mean for most of their waking hours – connected to the internet in some form or another. When I watch our students enter the school grounds each morning the vast majority of them are wearing earbuds, and most of them are staring at their phones. Similarly, many, indeed most, gather in small groups either outdoors or in the cafeteria, and stare at their devices. They are together yet entirely disconnected, from their peers.

There are enormous advantages to be had from being fully present, in the moment, to the people around us, or to the task at hand. This assists us with focus, with our social skills when it includes other people, and for respite.

If you wake up in the morning and immediately reach for your phone, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. On waking, the best thing we can do is delay our first interaction with our screens. At the other end of the day, similarly, no-screen time at least two hours before sleep will help us unwind, and enjoy more restful sleep. Our screen time is dictating our existence in too many ways.

Our children at St John Paul II College have all been born in the era of the smartphone. This means instant access to anything and everything the world wide web has to offer. The incidence of anxiety and depression in children of this era has spiked exponentially for the screen-based generation. It is no coincidence then that causal links between technology (the internet) and anxiety and depression have been made. If you have not read a book entitled The Anxiety Generation (2024), by Jonathan Haidt, I thoroughly recommend it. As Sherry Turkle (MIT professor) in Haidt, coined in 2015 about our lives with smartphones: “we are forever elsewhere” (p34).

On the one hand, as parents we are often nowadays described as helicopter, lawn mower, or snow plough because we never let our children out of our sight, we don’t let them take physical risks, travel outdoors on their own, or leave them to their own risk-based play. Paradoxically, the most dangerous place our children spend their time is on the net. Yet, this is the very place where parents exert the least amount of supervision. Our children are literally spending up to seven hours per day of their social time (excluding school) on a screen. Much of this time is spent on social media, YouTube, gaming, and pornography sites. When they are not directly involved in using a screen, they are thinking about their social media life.

The difficult situation, I appreciate, for parents is that banning or limiting the use of a smartphone makes mum or dad unpopular and is hard to monitor. Our biggest challenge and responsibility is to work together to grow human beings who are fully alive, fully human and fully engaged with other humans, in real time, and in real life (IRL). Despite being instantly connected via the web, we are lonelier than we have ever been in centuries. Human relationships that are based on real care, reciprocity, and empathy as well as shared experience will set our children up for success. Where they will not find self-esteem, self-efficacy or ultimate enjoyment, is on the net. You see, social media was originally designed to entertain. This has long gone. It was then designed to distract. And distract us, it certainly does. In a more sinister way, social media is now deliberately designed to addict us. It gives us just enough dopamine, the short-lived reward chemical, to keep on scrolling, in short bursts, so that we get on-the-run constant rewards. And it is addictive. Have you ever been on social media and then realised you have just literally wasted an hour? The vast majority of our children are doing this every single day for multiple hours.

Encouraging children to disconnect, insisting on no phones or devices in the bedroom, putting in place a regular sporting, cultural, musical, or other hobby activity that does not include a screen will not only assist with physical health, special skill-building and spiritual opportunity, it will also help our children navigate relationships with others. Developing meaningful and intimate human relationships is key to happiness.

While I make use of technology every day, I do not need it to find meaning and purpose in my life. The most meaningful thing I do is spend time with my family and friends. I do not need social media to prove to others, that I am worthy, loved, or even interesting. I pray that our children can also experience a sense of themselves that is not mediated by social media.

Watch this space for us to ramp up limits to the use of smartphones and devices at St John Paul II College in the coming months and year. In doing so, we will be doing your children a service; one that liberates them from dependence on a device. Please have a conversation with your child about the mandate that smartphones must be switched off and out of sight from the beginning of Pastoral Care until the end of the day. Phones will be confiscated if they are seen and used. It will be helpful if parents refrain from contacting children via their phone during the school day. All messages can be relayed through the front office. I would also reinforce that earbuds/pods are not to be worn during class time at all.

Announcement of Assistant Principal Wellbeing

It is with pleasure that I announce that Tom Van de Waterbeemd has been appointed to the substantive role of Assistant Principal Wellbeing. Tom will be well known to many in our community, as he has held the role in an acting capacity since late last year.

I am confident that Tom will continue to work with our wellbeing team to develop initiatives that support the wellbeing, care and safety of our students, and partner with parents and wider community members to grow healthy, respectful, and faith-filled young adults.

Dr Craig Wattam
Principal