Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘We will not deal with social media disputes anymore’
A school has issued a damning report on the effect social media is having on its pupils but is now washing its hands of settling disputes involving the “miserable scourge” of the online platforms.
Herne Bay High principal Jon Boyes says the mobile internet apps are the single most reported reason for disagreements, stress, anxiety and trauma among its students. Many issues causing concern involve bullying and the sharing of inappropriate images on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok, which are mostly used by teenagers. Each of the sites encourage users to share messages, pictures and videos with friends. In a letter to parents, Mr Boyes said: “It’s almost impossible to police and difficult to accurately apportion blame, cause or content.
“Many of you will see social media platforms as a beautiful invention, allowing you to share your life and antics, whilst for others it can be a miserable scourge.
“I would urge you to try and limit your children’s use, monitoring screen time, and re-iterate with you that most social media platforms have a minimum age of 13 to be able to sign up, meaning that most students in Year 7 and 8 should not even be using social media.” Last year some parents accused the school of not doing enough to address bullying concerns but an Ofsted report in June gave it a ‘Good’ rating and ruled its sixth-form provision was ‘Outstanding’. The government inspectors described Herne Bay High as a “calm, well-ordered environment”.
They added while children are said to occasionally “fall out with each other”, there were clear processes to help staff to respond quickly and appropriately.
At the time, Mr Boyes said he believed the report fully addressed any concerns and “put them to rest”.
In his recent missive, he says the school invests a huge amount of time supporting its young people through the trials and tribulations of life and education, but social media is having a “detrimental effect” on the process.
He is now urging parents to take more responsibility for their children’s use of social media.
“After careful consideration and effective after half-term, we will not undertake investigations into the misuse of social media platforms or the content within as we have no control over it,” he says.
He advised parents that if they have allowed their child to have social media accounts and they
are subject to concerns over these platforms, they should follow the guidance from the NSPCC or report serious incidents to the police on 101. Two years ago Tiktok implemented a ban on under-16s from using private messaging, but critics say a lack of age-verification makes it easy for youngsters to abuse the platform. In 2021 a Sittingbourne mum said she believed Tiktok was a significant factor in the suicide of her 15-year-old son the year before.
Ellis Murphy-richard, who was transgender and attended the Oasis Academy in Sheppey and Faversham Youth Club, took his own life a month before his 16th birthday.
His mum, Natasha Murphy, was convinced the app had influenced his suicidal thoughts “because of its algorithm and content”.
But a coroner declined her request for the social media giant to give evidence at the inquest, which concluded his death was a suicide. During PMQS yesterday (Wednesday), Folkestone and Hythe MP Damien Collins, who sits on the Online Safety Bill Committee, called for the draft legislation to be amended, allowing bereaved families access to relatives’ social media data.