Value 5 (Part 1): Technology is having a profound effect on schools and our lives – make it positive

A New Year resolution for us all

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Never before has a generation so diligently recorded itself accomplishing so little.

Anonymous

The trouble with schools is that they ought to give more time over to safe, appropriate and effective use of technology.  

I’ll explain what I mean by this value and the statement above in the next post fully, but as we move into the new year, I thought I’d dedicate this post to a New Year resolution I think we should all adopt (i.e. everyone in the world who has access to any digital device) and in turn knock the world back into shape.

In The 5 Second Rule¹, Mel Robbins advocates acting on an idea or intention within five seconds before the brain sabotages it with over-thinking. This inspired me to wonder whether we can harness a five-second pause with respect to our use of digital media. In my last school, I consulted with staff and students and came up with three situations where we should take a five-second pause in relation to digital media. These were: before picking up and using a digital device; before opening a message or website; and before pressing the send or post button. As a result of these soundings, I came up with a set of Five-Second I-Rules²:

Before picking up and using a digital device, take five seconds to consider the following:

• Am I putting off doing something more important or worthwhile?

• Is this an appropriate time to use the device (e.g. it might be unacceptable during lessons, work hours or at the family dinner table)?

• Am I permitted to use this device? (Is it mine?)

• Am I using my own log-in or am I using someone else’s password to cause mischief?

Before opening or looking closely at any message or website, take five seconds to consider the following:

• Do I know and/or trust the sender? (Could the message or site spread a virus? Am I safe? Is the website run by/owned by those who you imagine run or own the site? )

• Does it look like it should be reported? (Is it potentially against the law or dangerous?)

• Should I go any further? Will this upset me or encourage me to upset others?

• Is the site appropriate? (Is it unlawful, wrong, unethical or exploitative? Will I get into trouble using it? Is it age appropriate)?

Before pressing the send or post button, take five seconds to consider the following:

• Is what I have written factual? (Am I spreading gossip or rumour? Is what I have written slanderous?)

• Is what I am sending within the law (e.g. hateful, inciting racism, child pornography)?

• Is what I am sending harmful or upsetting to others?

• Will what I am sending harm me now or in the future? (What will current or future partners, friends and/or employers think?)

These are just some of the thoughts we all need to consider before we commit to any of these actions. I say ‘we’ because as I’ve already stressed above, all of us ought to follow these rules, and in the process, don’t you think the world might become a better place?

Think of the arguments, conflict and embarrassments that might be avoided, how much safer our children might be, the rise in workplace efficiency and all those staff warnings/dismissals avoided. There are other ways to procrastinate, such as making a cup of tea, tidying up and so on, but nothing draws you in like the dopamine rush of digital media. And whereas making a cup of tea or tidying up will have an end point, digital time-wasting can be endless.

As adults we also all need to become involved with the Five-Second I-Rules because this is not only the domain of young people. I am certainly not in the habit of following these rules and only occasionally remember, and so I need help from others around me. We all need to remind each other to apply the five-second rule until it becomes habit-forming. At school or your home-school, we need to be talking about it all the time with young people until it is well and truly fixed in their heads. As parents and working adults we need to do the same with each other.

In my next post, I’ll go back a step and explain why the 5 second I Rules are vital today and explore why schools need to adopt a different approach in their use of information technology and the way they develop sustainable positive, effective and safe use amongst young people.

In the meantime, this has been my New Year resolution gift to you all! Here’s hoping you all have a good one and 2023 is a year when we all screw our heads back on and push the world back onto a positive trajectory. (We can hope!)

1. Mel Robbins, The 5 Second Rule: The Fastest Way to Change Your Life (New York: Savio Republic, 2017).

2. Published originally in Armando Di-Finizio, “A Head Full Of Ethos”, (Crown House Publishing, 2022)