A reminder that the next discussion evening is on Tuesday 8th October at 7.00pm upstairs in De Koffie Pot at The Left Bank, the topic for discussion is:
Are we protecting our children too much in their physical lives, but not enough in their Online Lives?
Smartphones, social media and their effect on children and young people are big news. But there is controversy.
Yes, their mental health seems worse than that of previous generations. But is that really down to smartphones and social media? Or is it due to Covid and the climate crisis?
Other questions come up too. Are we protecting our children too much in physical life – but not enough online?
These are tricky issues. This event is a chance to talk it all through, and to answer two critical questions.
- What sort of childhood and what sort of teenage life do both parents and children and young people want?
- What changes do people want to make? This could be at the level of the individual person/family (“Our child won’t get a smartphone until age x”) or at the collective level (“We want the headteacher to ban smartphones at school”)
Please be aware that it is not possible to discuss this topic properly without looking at disturbing cases, for example:
- A young teenager whose suicide was linked to social media;
- A girl who first came across porn online at the age of ten; and so on.
It is recommended that any teenagers coming to this event be at least 16 years old, and come with an adult.
The discussion will be led by Perry Walker, who has facilitated our exploration of a wide number of discussions.
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