7 FEb 2023

Safer Internet Day

Students have been discussing screen time in their weekly timetabled Personal Development Sessions.

Today is Safer Internet Day. Seaford students have timetabled personal development sessions every Wednesday in their tutor groups, and they use the Wellbeing Hub in these sessions. Each month the Wellbeing Hub looks at different topics and students discuss these topics with their tutors. The theme for January was screen time.

Chloe Carruba’s Year 9 tutor group discussed the Wellbeing Hubs' resources for staying private on social media, discussed digital footprints and protecting your personal data on social media. They had a good discussion about screen time and what you should look at when you are assessing how long you are on a screen, this includes time on your phone, time watching TV and the time you spend gaming. They spoke about having a digital detox and managing phone notifications which they agreed to do in their afternoon registration. During their afternoon tutor session, they all went through their phones and turned off the app notifications that they didn’t need, and they checked the bio information on their social media accounts.

Media teacher Holly Sabin said that her Year 12 tutor group were very honest and happy to share their screen time stats. “Several were shocked at the numbers,” she said: “The group gave each other tips for managing their phone usage, and some immediately put time limits onto apps such as Snapchat and TikTok.

One of her students said: “If I've got a free period, I set a timer for 20 minutes so I can relax and use my phone. Then when the timer goes, I know I need to put my phone down and get on with my work.”