Young people are growing up in a digital environment that is reshaping attention, sleep, emotional regulation, social life and learning. The issue is no longer whether screens matter. The issue is whether adults fully understand how digital life is interacting with the developing brain, what it may be displacing in daily life, and what schools and families need to do to respond in more informed ways. Research with Australian children and adolescents points to rising screen-based activity, high rates of device use, and clear differences between healthier and more harmful patterns of engagement online.
This webinar is not about being for technology or against technology. It is about making its use more informed. Digital tools are part of young people’s lives, learning and relationships. But the evidence also shows that heavy or poorly regulated use can affect several of the conditions young people rely on to stay well and stay engaged: sleep, attention, emotional regulation, social functioning and recovery time. The type of use matters too. More passive use, such as prolonged scrolling and consuming content without meaningful interaction, is associated with poorer mental health outcomes than more active or socially connected use.
That is why this conversation needs to go beyond simple messages about “screen time.” The more useful questions are harder and more practical. What is digital use doing to sleep and concentration? What is it doing to emotional regulation and impulse control? What is it replacing in a young person’s day? When does online conflict start affecting school belonging, peer relationships and classroom functioning? And what education do schools and families need so they can respond with clarity rather than fear, confusion or hindsight? These are the questions this session is designed to address.
Hosted by Nikki Bonus, and featuring Dr Mark Williams this webinar will take a deeper look at the issues young people are facing in a high-stimulation, high-pressure digital world. A central part of the session will be a deep dive into the neuroscience led by Dr Mark Williams, exploring what current evidence suggests about screens and the developing brain, why attention, sleep, regulation and social functioning matter so much, and what adults need to understand if they want to reduce harm and support healthier development.
This is not a webinar about blame.
It is a webinar about curiosity, insight and action: what young people are facing, what may be changing, and how schools and families can work together in ways that genuinely make a difference.
The evidence is showing that the problem is not simply that young people are online more often. It is that digital load can begin to alter the conditions needed for healthy development and learning. When sleep is disrupted, attention is fragmented, emotional recovery is reduced, and online conflict is constant, the effects can show up in irritability, withdrawal, friendship strain, reactivity, reduced concentration, lower resilience and disengagement from school. Cyberbullying is part of that picture, but it is not the whole picture. Online life can also amplify social comparison, social pressure and exposure to conflict in ways that follow young people directly into classrooms and homes. Recent Australian reporting shows cyberbullying complaints have risen sharply, especially among students entering secondary school, and these issues are closely connected to what is happening in peer groups at school.
This is why schools cannot address the issue on their own, and families cannot either. Young people need adults around them to understand what is changing, what warning signs to look for, what boundaries and habits are worth strengthening, and what helps protect sleep, attention, connection and regulation. The response needs to be more joined up, more informed and more practical. It needs to help adults distinguish between digital use that supports learning and connection, and digital use that is beginning to undermine wellbeing, relationships and functioning. Resources developed for schools and families are increasingly moving in this direction: not anti-technology, but focused on healthy habits, critical use and earlier intervention when harm is building.
What this session will explore
what current evidence suggests about screens and the developing brain
how digital overload can affect sleep, attention, emotional regulation and learning
why the type of digital use matters, not just the number of hours
what may be getting displaced when digital life begins to crowd out face-to-face connection, movement, boredom and recovery time
how cyberbullying, online conflict and social comparison are affecting young people’s sense of safety, belonging and wellbeing
why this is not just a school issue and not just a family issue, but one that requires a more joined-up response
what schools and families can start doing now to support healthier digital habits, stronger regulation and better real-world connection
This session is for school leaders, educators, wellbeing teams and families who want a clearer, evidence-informed understanding of what young people are facing, what the science is pointing to, and what actions are most likely to help.
Because when adults understand more about what digital life is doing to attention, regulation, relationships and learning, they are in a much stronger position to respond earlier, work together better, and make technology use more informed, more balanced and more supportive of healthy development.