Tuesday 8 September, 2015

Digital Natives or Digital Orphans?

Head of Educational Resources & Information Centre

Ms Kathryn White

Broad

Contentious

Situational

Difficult

…

In 2001, Marc Prensky introduced the concept of the ‘Digital Native’ to describe generations who have grown up surrounded by technology.

He said:

(Prensky, 2001)

…–

–

(Prensky, 2001)

…

Even though we:

• Speak in English

• Read in English

• Learn English at school

We still struggle with…

– the rules that make it work

– how to put it together

– how to make meaning

…

Many of us still subscribe to the digital native metaphor because it’s easy and it protects us.

It allows us to put technology in the ‘too hard’ basket and seemingly absolves us of responsibility.

…

Parents are stepping back because they feel intimidated, fearful and confused by technology, leaving their children to

fend for themselves.

• Dealing with technology issues is extremely difficult

• Your daughter will often avoid you on issues of technology

• You will never come close to keeping up with changes in technology

• We’re asking our girls to self regulate when they’re often not capable of doing so

• Technology is addictive

• The girls are in a highly reactive stage of development – and technology provides a perfect platform for instantaneous public reactions

PRIVACY RELATIONSHIPS PERSONAL BRANDING

• Understanding privacy settings can be easily taught!

• Understanding what to divulge and to whom is not.

• Difficult to do in an age where everyone in the media is ‘out there’.

• The concept of ‘friends’ has changed with the birth of social media

• Many students are unaware of the concept of ‘tiered’ relationships

• How do we deal with problematic relationships?

• How do I want to be perceived? Why is this important?

• Attention seeking behaviour

• Value beyond ‘likes’, friend counts, views

• Forced positivity

Steve Furtick

Providing the right context is essential.

Set firm but fairtechnology ground rules at home.

Don’t know? Google it. Just type it in. Someone will already have done the search before you!

Encourage tech free time, without labelling it as such.Think activities that require us to ‘live in the moment’ –experiential (live performance) or physical (bike riding) activities, or reading.

…

• Tweens and teens place a high priority on things being fair

• By behaving in a certain way, you normalise it. You might not realise you’re doing it!

• Be honest

…

Living with the Adolescent Brain

Dean of Year 9

Ms Fiona Ganino-Day

A person is a person because of people –Zulu proverb

OMG The Adolescent Brain…LOL

Adult Brain VS Teenage Brain

Our Frontal Lobe

• Judgement• Decision making• Reasoning• Problem solving• Impulse control• Emotions and emotion control

Teenage Frontal Lobe• Underdeveloped as the brain matures

back to front• Last the part of the brain to mature

(at about 24 years of age; males and females differ)

• This occurs during a time they are trying to form their own identity

Adult Brain VS Teenage Brain

• During a calm moment a teenager can rationalise just as well as an adult.

• During a stressful moment a teenager uses their amygdala (a mature part of their brain)

• The amygdala is responsible for emotional and impulsive responses.

Understanding risk taking behaviours• We must note that teenagers are NOT stupid,

they do have control over their brain. In most instances teenagers know when they are engaging in risk taking behaviour (drinking etc).

• However they believe that the benefits of those behaviours outweigh any potential harm.

• Often they are participating in risk taking behaviours because

- they do not know how to deal with peer exclusion

- they want to establish themselves as individuals- they want to show independence from their

parents- they want to win the respect of their peers

The stressful situation and the amygdala

• The teenager will respond to a message or behaviour inappropriately – an amygdala response

The teenager will avoid the stressful situation and this may mean people or school-common thinking errors may occur such as catastrophizing, fortune telling, magnification, all or nothing.

The teenager will freeze as they do not have any coping strategies. So they shut down and won’t talk.

So what does that mean for parents?

• Understanding the teenage brain helps us to understand their behaviours and responses.

• It helps us to understand why they participate in risk taking behaviours

• With that knowledge we need to teach adolescents coping strategies

Some tips:

Obviously we want to protect our teenagers from risk-taking and the consequences of bad choices but making excuses or covering for them means we are stunting their growth and preventing them from building resilience.

• Let them take calculated risks, talk it over with them, let them do it.

• Choose positive risk taking options (sports, cinemas independently, zip lining etc)

• Reward smart risk taking, where they show wisdom

• Encourage many social relationships but provide rules for interactions (this can limit risky behaviour)

Some tips:

• Listen – sometimes they just want you to listen. Not pass judgement, make decisions for them or get angry for them and take action. They just want a sounding board to ‘dump’ their emotions onto.

Give them Armour/Language:• teach them some lines they

could use to remove themselves from different situations. Short statements (not interested in that… I would rather…..I have to be home in 5 minutes… I have to go and see a teacher….I cannot be bothered with that….)

• Ask them to anticipate the sort of responses they will get so they can consider a follow up line

• Stop and think about behaviours before responding (sleep on it -healing).

Decision-making for the Adolescents is difficult.

• SLEEP!

• Primary School Children 10 – 12 hours per day

• Secondary School Children 8 – 10 hours per day

Sleep Deprivation

• Behavioural changes• Cognitive impairments• Memory impairments• Emotional – irritable, angry,

depressed etc• Lack of concentration• Suppressed immune system –

vulnerable to disease• Poor time management• Mental health issues

Why are teenagers sleep deprived?

• Different Sleep/Wake Cycle –

-cortisol in our body keeps us alert

-melatonin hormones makes us sleepy

• An adult’s cortisol levels will start to decrease and melatonin levels increase around 9 - 10pm.

• An adolescent’s melatonin release can be delayed up to 2 hours, so at 11 -12 pm (delayed sleep phase) they will start to feel sleepy.

• As a result they will wake up later or are tired from an early start because they have not had a enough sleep.

• This also explains why teenagers are not wanting to go to bed at a reasonable time and would rather be on technology – they are bored.

Why are teenagers sleep deprived?

• Technology in the bedroom – smart phones, laptops, tablets, television all emit a blue light that prevents melatonin from being released, hence teenagers are not sleepy. Blue light keeps you alert – so use them during the day.

• The brain is very active when using technology it is not winding down

• Technology invites all your life to come into the bedroom and so an association can be formed, however the bedroom is only for sleeping.

• Caffeine too close to bedtime – includes some teas.

• Working late

• Stressed

• Sleep is a low priority for teenagers

Children/Adolescent Sleep Tips• Dark room (includes low wattage light in the bed side lamp)

• Routine – same bedtime and wake up time with a little sleep in on the weekend (1 hour max) otherwise the body clock cycle is disrupted

• Exercise during the day

• Turn the light on in the morning to activate cortisol and return 5 minutes later

• Open the blinds – natural light is the best for waking up

• NO technology in the bedroom and ideally switch off 2 hours before (tricky)…not even aeroplane mode! They need will power not to look at it…..

• New alarm clock

• An Ipod (that does not have wifi capabilities) if they really want music to relax

• If they have not fallen asleep after 20 minutes - Read or mindfulness

The Power of Being in the Now

Dean of Year 8

Ms Elizabeth Ryan

Mindfulness &

Meditation

Embracing the Power of Now with our Girls

Statistically Speaking27% of 18-25 year olds face a mental health issue each year

75% of mental health problems emerge before the age of 25

Why do we believe in

Mindfulness?

Dr Craig Hassed, Senior Lecturer of General Practice – Monash University

UK test in 2015 found that it worked as well as anti-depressants

One method amongst many

Proactive rather than reactive

Inoculation against daily stressors

Student Responses

Why is it so important to “accept

this moment fully?”

Human intelligence – past and future

Words and thoughts: “Language is so essential to our concept of intelligence, that its possession is virtually equated with being human.” (Dr. Phillip Lieberman)

Fight or flight…

Focusing on problems in your mind can leave you tired, stressed, overwhelmed

Guess what?

Feelings and thoughts are not facts…

…they are created by words in your mind!

E.g. “I’m tired…” “this sucks…” “why am I so lonely…?” = WORDS not REALITY

Through mindfulness and meditation, you can start to observe these thoughts for what they are – just thoughts – and focus your attention elsewhere…

Unpluggin’

Question: Why do you unplug?

Marshmallow

Meditation

Looks like…?Feels like…?

Tastes like...?

Chocolate

Meditation

Looks like…?Feels like…?

Tastes like...?

Let’s take a moment…

Sit comfortably

Close your eyes

Take five full, deep breaths

Still your mind for two whole minutes

What thoughts came to your mind?

Hands up if multiple thoughts come into your mind? (More than one?)

Hands up if your thoughts were based in the past? (Today, yesterday, last week, last month?)

Hands up if your thoughts were based in the future? (Tomorrow, next week, next month?)

The challenge is not to remove all thoughts, but to observe them calmly

You can achieve this through:

A full body scan Five deep breaths at any time Pausing to reflect on your thoughts when you feel angry, nervous, fidgety, tired, upset, lonely, unwell, uncomfortable

We need to treat ourselves and our thoughts as kindly as we would treat a friend…