Pressures on Young People: Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'roll and Digital Tattoos

A presentation to Berkhamsted School Y9 Parents given on Wednesday 27 November 2013

 

This Presentation included two videos produced by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty:

Why IPads and Tablets in Schools don't sit well with me.

I confess, I'm a bit of a workstation zealot: the screen on my desk in my office sits on a pile of university Theology tomes so that I am forced to sit up, and I have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse - my antidote to neck and wrist strain. These measures stem from a misspent youth of rugby and high jumping which has left me with a weak back that needs a lot of care. Working at my desk is under control, but my working habits are changing . . . . . 

I am writing this sitting on a train to London stooped over my iPad which is resting on my lap. I can already feel the tension building at the base of my neck. I love the portability and versatility of my iPad, but there are times when my back begs to differ. I am concerned that little discussion seems to have been given to the range of potential health issues surrounding the introduction of mobile technologies into the classroom. We have both a duty of care and a duty to educate young people in their safe and healthy use. 

(If further incentive were required) In our increasingly litigious age, organisations lay themselves open to a potential liability claim if they do not provide adequate health and safety training. (think: 'Working at heights' training for use of ladders, workstation audits, the correct use of Rowing Machines or DT equipment etc.). It is likely to follow that where schools are providing iPads or tablets for use by pupils or staff, that there are potential liability issues, if appropriate training on their safe use is not in place. 

Schools would be well advised to incorporate training into their ICT and/or PSHE curriculums on the health risks surrounding poor posture when using mobile devices. So what form would this take, given that it is almost impossible to maintain good posture when using them? (I am not occupational therapist but) I suspect the best advice is not to spend prolonged periods focused on our iPads, to take regular breaks, and to carry out exercises akin to those recommended on long-haul flights.

Useful sites

• Norwegian experts warn against iPad  The Foreigner 26/02/2012
• How the iPad is changing the way we work: The nine new ways we sit (and slouch) in the office thanks to mobile technology Daily Mail 26/02/2013

A different kind of food scare . . . . . Our family meal out at the Harvester

Last week I went to a Harvester for the first time in living memory. I'm going to get my excuse in early, it was my son's fifteenth birthday and it was clear from the way in which he appraised the menu that it was the combination of the vast platters of cooked meat, the sickly sweet desserts and bottomless cokes, rather than the unlimited salad bar, that had informed his choice of venue. This was to be a feast of saturated fats and refined sugars - and so it proved.

What struck me most when reading the menu was that the powers-that-be at Harvester had included the calorie values for each of the menu options. I must say that it totally changed my perspective on the meal.  Knowing that 2500 calories is the daily recommended calorie intake for an adult male (2000 for a female), how could I even contemplate the (admittedly otherwise tempting) Flame-grilled 8oz Scottish Beef Burger with back bacon and Stilton cheese at 820kcal? let alone the Ultimate Mixed Grill at 1410kcal?!  I took the hint and down-sized my appetite opting for a couple of visits to the salad bar (dressing 100kcal per ladle!) and a Classic Burger (a snip at 650kcal) with mash (170kcal) -  vowing not to have a dessert at school all the week and to run for an extra couple of miles at the weekend. 

Across the table, totally oblivious to the calorie counting going on, the teenagers didn't hestitate before devouring the Ultimate Mixed Grill (1410kcal) with fries (450kcal) and a Cadbury Ultimate Sundae (740kcal) which they washed down with two or three pints of  R White’s Lemonade (52kcal/ glass), not counting a couple of visits to the salad bar while they were bored waiting for the mains to arrive! We left, the boys having eaten more calories in one meal than a runner burns during a marathon.

Harvester have adopted a paradoxical approach to healthy eating. On the one hand, I applaud the initiative of including calorie values on the menu as it allows customers to make informed choices and it serves as a gentle reminder about healthy eating (not to mention the undoubted potential to get your five a day at the unlimited salad bar). But, on the other hand, they are knowingly serving up excessive portions of food, some of which is healthy in small quantities, but much of which is a recipe for obesity. 

Ultimately education and self-discipline are the key; and many adults, let alone young people, don't always have both in sufficient quantities.  If the Monday night popularity and eating habits at the Harvester in Hemel Hempstead are anything to go by, it is no surprise that Britain is rapidly becoming the 'fat man of Europe' (See 'Obesity crisis risks making Britain 'fat man of Europe' Daily Telegraph 18/02/2013). 

• Harvester Main Menu
• Harvester Drinks and Dessert Menu

Bedtime texting and Internet use can damage a teenager's health

More than half of children and teenagers who text, or surf the Internet at bedtime are likely not only to have problems falling asleep, but experience mood, behaviour and cognitive problems during the day; concluded a pilot study conducted by a team from the JFK Medical Center, in Edison, New Jersey.

The lead author, Dr Peter G. Polos, commented, "The sooner parents establish appropriate times for children to use this technology, the better," adding that perhaps they should also "move key items, such as computers, from a child's bedroom into a common area".

Full article: 'Bedtime Texting, Internet Use, Disturbs Sleep And Mood In Teens' MedicalNewsToday.com 03/11/2010