Unplug24: 23,000 kids take a stand with social media blackout

More than 20,000 Aussie schoolchildren have given up social media for 24 hours, as part of a national campaign to raise awareness of the dangers.

Unplug24, an initiative advocating for a national day of social media silence on October 24, was started by Wayne Holdsworth, whose son, Mac, took his own life on this day a year ago. He was just 17-years-old.

The Melbourne teenager, who dreamt of becoming a carpenter, fell victim to a sextortion* plot in which he was tricked into sending an explicit* photo of himself and then blackmailed* via his Snapchat and Instagram accounts.

Only last month Sydney schoolgirl Charlotte O’Brien, 12, had the nation grieving when she also took her life after being bullied online.

Thursday’s initiative is being supported by a host of big names, among them singer Jessica Mauboy, fitness guru Michelle Bridges, Olympian Lani Pallister, Fox Footy presenter Sarah Jones, Opals basketballer Alice Kunek, actor Ada Nicodemou, as well as politicians including Health Minister Mark Butler and Senator Jacqui Lambie. The high profile stars join News Corp Australia and SmackTalk, a suicide prevention charity set up in Mac’s name, in backing the day, along with every boarder in Australia.

Australian Boarding Schools Association CEO Richard Stokes said every one of the country’s 201 boarding schools – comprising 23,000 pupils – were taking part in Unplug24 today.

Among them are some of Australia’s most exclusive schools, including Kambala School and The Scots College in Sydney, Brisbane Grammar School, Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, and Pembroke School in Adelaide.

There are also tiny rural schools like Torres Strait Kaziw Meta on Thursday Island in Queensland, which has just 67 boarders, who have also quit social media for Unplug24.

“Social media has had the greatest negative impact on kids we have ever seen,” Mr Stokes said.

“It has a great power over some kids and a negative influence on them.”

He said one of the benefits of boarding is that every boarder has to hand their phones in before bed every night, so they all get a good night’s sleep, but coming off it for an entire day is the “greatest idea ever”, according to all the school heads who agreed to do it.

And feedback was that the kids liked the “concept of showing they are strong and in control” and can do without it.

Mr Stokes said it was also important to raise awareness of how social media can expose children to dangers like sextortion and bullying.

“When it comes to sextortion, the boys all think it won’t happen to them, but it does,” Mr Stokes said.

“With the girls, it’s more about the bullying.”

Mr Stokes said one school in Perth was already doing something similar to this campaign but weekly. They run “Unplugged Thursdays”, where children learn life skills such as managing money, changing tyres and cooking instead of scrolling on their phones.

Brisbane’s Marist College Ashford Head Jim Noble has 170 male boarders taking part and all phones and laptops have been locked away for 24 hours.

The kids will have access to the pool, weights room, sports fields and a dog walking club.

He hoped that the phone-free day would show the boys “they can still have a great time in each other’s company without technology”.

“I’m a parent as well and see the addiction*,” Mr Noble said.

“When we told the parents what we were doing, I had emails back from them saying it was ‘so good’ and to ‘go hard’.”

News Corp is also running the Let Them Be Kids campaign to raise the age children can access social media to 16, which has received support from thousands of parents across Australia, as well as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Child protection agencies, parents, schools and community groups across Australia are urgently calling for greater accountability* and user restrictions by global tech giants. Meta-owned Instagram, one of the social media platforms popular among younger users, has responded to mounting pressure and recently launched teen accounts in Australia.

The platform also announced a new sextortion educational campaign for kids and parents and last week introduced several new safety features for under-18 users, including automatic privacy settings for teen accounts, in-app safety notices, plus new image and follower protections.

Additional reporting by Kids News

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POLL

GLOSSARY

• sextortion: a serious crime and a form of blackmail, where someone threatens to share a nude or sexual image or video of you unless you give in to their demands
• explicit: images that show nudity or any person engaging in sexual conduct
• blackmail: a serious crime involving trying to get money from people or forcing them to do something by threatening to share a secret of theirs or to harm them or their reputation
• accountability: responsibility, liability, being held to account for what you do and say

EXTRA READING

‘Social’ habits harming kids of Oz

Australia moves on social media

Social media Australia’s Death Star

QUICK QUIZ

1. What is today’s social media initiative called?
2. What do the 23,000 students taking part all have in common aside from unplugging?
3. Who started Unplug24 and why?
4. What happens at one Perth school on “Unplugged Thursdays”?
5. What do Marist College Ashford kids have access to while phone and laptops are locked up?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Unplug your community!
Unplug24 focused on boarding schools. How could regular people in your community take part in this initiative? Write a plan for your community. Include information that would help everyone understand why they need to take part in this. Use some of the ideas in the story to help you.

Time: allow at least 40 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Information Technology, Personal and Social Capability

2. Extension
“What is the government waiting for? Global tech giants need to do more to protect kids and it’s up to the government to make them do it!”

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Write a very convincing piece of persuasive text on this question.

Time: allow at least 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship

VCOP ACTIVITY
To sum it up
After reading the article, use your comprehension skills to summarise in a maximum of three sentences what the article is about.

Think about:

What is the main topic or idea?

What is an important or interesting fact?

Who was involved (people or places)?

Use your VCOP skills to re-read your summary to make sure it is clear, specific and well punctuated.