The Whole World in their Hands. Smartphones and Tweens: Towards an Understanding of Digital Puberty

Presenter: Mark Yeowell – Head of Junior School

Mark is Head of Junior School at Hills Grammar and over the past 18 Years has led four Primary Schools in England, the United Arab Emirates and Australia. He is currently a doctoral student at UNSW, supervised by eminent Finnish Educator, Professor Pasi Sahlberg, and is undertaking research into the experiences of children aged 10 to 14 when they get their first smartphone. Mark frames this event as a rite of passage and as a trigger for ‘digital puberty’. Mark is particularly interested in understanding early social media use and the impact, opportunities and risk for tweens when they are constantly connected via their smartphone to the internet.  He is also a parent of two teenage sons aged 14 and 15.

Session Information

“Everyone’s got one except me!”… “I want to be able to keep in contact with my child.” For a parent, deciding to give a child their first smartphone is a big decision and not one to be taken without careful consideration. Owning a smartphone will mark a transition point in a child’s digital life, impact the way in which they interact with technology and require them to manage with increasing independence a whole new set of issues. This phase brings with it new opportunities as well as risks, and the way in which parents engage with their child during this stage is of utmost importance.  This session will provide an overview of some key considerations and include areas such as social media, FOMO, gaming, phones in bedrooms and at mealtimes, face-to-face versus online communication, digital distraction, problematic internet use, wellbeing issues, privacy, risk, opportunities and of course parenting a digital tween. The aim of the session is to begin to empower teachers through greater understanding to support and guide older children and early teens as they navigate digital puberty.

Session Date and Time

Venue: The Learning Lounge

Date: Term 4, Week 2B, Tuesday 20 October

Time: 3.45-4.45pm

Please note: This presentation will be repeated at 6.30-7.30pm this evening as a part of the Parent Learning Program. You are invited to attend if this time suits you better.