This week I visited St Julie’s Catholic High School in Woolton to talk to some of their pupils about the Labour Government’s consultation on social media usage by under-16s. I have received thousands of emails, letters and phone calls about whether there should be a ban or strengthening of safeguards on children under 16 using social media, apps and online games.
Head Kate McCourt welcomed myself and a representative from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology who are running the consultation into school to meet 15 pupils who had their own opinions and concerns about possible measures.
Interestingly although many were worried about losing access to their favourite apps like Snapchat and Tik Tok, they also recognised the dangers of over-use and addictive features like infinite scrolling. Students were amazed to hear statistics like 19% of 3-5 year olds in the UK have their own smartphone, though some had also been given their own phone at an early age. They flagged up that phones can be a good security measure when travelling to and from school or when out with friends but acknowledged that their daily screen times were often high.
It was a really valuable session and I was pleased to hear St Julie’s had already held their own in-school version of the consultation with over 600 replies.
The consultation runs until May 26th and you can have your say at: Growing up in the online world: a national consultation – GOV.UK