Lunar | Amid a rise in cyberbullying, we owe our children a digital detox as schools reopen
- Cases of bullying and unhappiness have increased in Hong Kong as children turned to the digital world to compensate for a lack of social interaction
- While adults have benefited from the technologies which have kept the corporate wheels turning, what price have our children paid?
My primary-school-aged daughter and her friends were initially introduced to instant messaging to allow direct contact with teachers and classmates to ask questions about lessons being delivered over Zoom and on Google slides.
But what began as a way to support home learning quickly turned into a tool for isolated children who were missing their friends and the social interaction of physical school.
Long after the school day was over, the online chats continued. Soon, my daughter was messaging with a proficiency and frequency which belied her age.
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Youth concern group Hong Kong Playground Association, told the Post it believes many of the cases would have been cyberbullying, a fair conclusion given students have had unprecedented access to online tools without the maturity or cognitive ability to handle them.
