Switch-on and grasp the power of social media

MY TEENAGE son came downstairs on Tuesday afternoon and said he was meeting up with one friend and going for a walk. In normal times, I would barely register this information. Of course, we are not living in normal times. He packed his hand sanitiser into his rucksack and strode off down the road.

After about an hour I began to feel slightly anxious. I resisted the temptation to ring or text. Jack is 18 in August. He’s almost an adult. Although this awful pandemic makes parents even more vigilant than before, we still have to respect teenage independence.

He arrived back home at about 7pm. Do you know where he had been? To the Tesco superstore two miles away, on foot there and back. He staggered through the door bearing two bulging carrier bags. “Me and Ashley [his friend] went and bought some things we thought we might need,” he said.

Jack shouted his younger sister downstairs. Her face lit up. Along with the toilet rolls, he’d picked up some cartons of fresh custard and a chocolate Easter egg.

Perhaps the most random of shopping hauls, but not for the first time this week, I shed a tear at the kitchen table. I’ve heard some horrific things about young people congregating in groups and even terrorising elderly residents on lockdown in retirement homes.

I’ve learnt that there has been a steep rise in vehicle crime locally, with CCTV showing hooded figures who would, in normal times, still be at school. There are cars driving past me at speed blaring out music as I take the dog for his designated one walk a day. I curse them.

I accept that some young people think they are invincible in the face of this virus, even when they are shown TV footage of their peers in intensive care and learn that the youngest UK victim to die so far is only 18.

However, I would also argue that, in general, it is now bringing out the best in our sons and daughters. Almost every teenager I know who’s old enough to work is looking for a temporary job or volunteer role in a supermarket or the NHS. My cousin’s daughter, who only passed her driving test a fortnight ago, has pressed herself into service picking up prescriptions and shopping for her neighbours.

And it’s not just practical support; I caught sight of an exchange on Jack’s Facebook page. I’ll spare you the ‘youth’ patois, but the gist was a group of big daft footballloving lads telling each other to take care of their mental health.

I was touched. Just as I am touched by the pictures my 14-year-old daughter and her friends are sharing. They have been going through family photo albums and finding their favourite snaps of themselves when they were younger.

Some are funny, some are beautiful, all of them remind these young women of happier times. I’m not telling you all this simply to prove that millions of teenagers are trying their best to obey the rules and survive this epoch-defining moment in their lives. It’s clear to any parent that social media is such a positive force for good.

Hands up if you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle who has often despaired at a youngster who sits glued to their phone at any opportunity. Hands up if you are any of the above and – be honest – given the chance, you would do the same?

There’s been a great deal of hypocrisy about mobile phones, but now is not the time to start being judgmental. My point is, if we are all appreciating the power of social media and virtual connections like never before, why has it taken the Government three long weeks to

It’s clear to any parent that social media is such a positive force for good.

wake up to the fact that putting instructions to stay at home, avoid panic-buying and respect social distancing in public places, should be beamed into every device in the UK?

Do they not have the technology and know-how? I have to wonder.

The public information text the Prime Minister promised to send to every mobile on Monday has only just landed in my own phone. The rest of my household received it almost immediately.

Perhaps Ministers should be making direct approaches to all those digital engagement specialists now stuck indoors with nothing much to do but sign up to Houseparty. Goodness me, they could even pay them for their knowledge and time.

We all have much to learn from the young and switchedon. And we should respect that. People used to say that National Service was the making of young men. Whether that was true or not, the coronavirus crisis could just be this generation’s nexus.