Chris Townsend, Headteacher, discusses why Felsted School will be continuing with its “digital detox” tradition for this year’s World Mental Health Day
When I look at changes to our society over the last 15 years, many of the most significant changes that we have seen have involved the spread of mobile phone technology and social media.
I remember starting my time as a Housemaster of a boarding house in 2003, and having to manage a queue of boys waiting to use the one house payphone each night. Twitter was unheard of, Snapchat and WhatsApp far in the future, and Facebook was about to take its first tentative steps early in 2004. These days, many of us cannot get out of bed without having first checked our messages, social media, and the many other things that a phone can do for us. Previously a libertarian in my view of modern technology, it was my belief that we need to help young people learn how to use these devices and accept that this is now simply a part of life. This said, I have become increasingly concerned that the impact of this technology can actually be damaging, the power of the phone hugely risky, and the whole process dangerously addictive.
Dr Nicholas Kardaras wrote in the New York Post about “digital heroin”, using scientific studies to show that the brain of someone using social media shows some of the traits of an habitual drug user. And while the headline was sensationalist, there is no doubt that society has struggled to...