Molly Jones, 12, uses Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Blackberry Messenger and Twitter
“When I use social media, I tend to use it until the power runs out on my gadgets and I am clawed into the real world of face-to-face communication. When I have access to Wi-Fi, I spend up to three hours a day on social media.
“I do feel that if you are not ‘connected’ then you will be left out of the gossip, because quite a bit of the chat is on who sent who what and what did it say.
“The problem is that everyone can see how many people follow you and if you are lower than others with follower numbers, you could be teased about it.
“In a life-skills lesson at school, our teacher explained that in the UAE, if you post a picture of someone without their permission you will be fined and you’d be in a lot of trouble if you get caught.
“I apply rules to keep myself safe. I don’t follow people I don’t know, apart from celebrities, which I only do to keep up with the gossip. And if I don’t like something, I don’t say anything at all.”
Clodagh Keegan, 14, uses Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp
“If I’m not using social media for a day, it’s a shock to everybody. They’ll be like: ‘Oh, why are you ignoring me?’ So there is that pressure to use it. And it’s a lot easier for bullying to happen on social media, because you’re not saying it to someone’s face.
“I’ll have it open all the time at home, but I’m only actively using it for maybe two hours a day. Mum discourages it when we have company. But if I’m alone before she comes home from work, she doesn’t know I’ve been on it. I do waste time on it instead of doing homework. I don’t realise how much time I’ve spent on it until it’s too late.”
Razan Wasti, 18, has been using Facebook since he was 13 and now also uses Snapchat
“I use social media for escapism. And, at school we use Facebook as a way of organising school events and prefect meetings. I’m probably on social media for about three hours a day. It’s a good way of communicating rather than sending text messages, which costs money.
“I never got into Instagram or Twitter. I can’t understand the concept of taking so many pictures just to show everyone. You’re not concentrating on what you’re actually doing, you just want to try to tell others what you’re doing.”
Three mums share their experiences.
Samantha Turner, mum of four, Abu Dhabi
“A traditional value we follow is: don’t text, post, or answer the phone when you’re with someone unless it’s critical. That said, honesty can be an excuse for nastiness on social media – ‘I was just saying what I thought’.
“One of my children uses Instagram, but only to post selfies occasionally, which I actively discourage. Snapchat is my personal bugbear. It should be called Snapcheat or Snaphate as those are the only purposes it seems to serve. If I could find a way to have it permanently blocked, I would.”
Downey Keegan, mum of three, Dubai
“Social media is quite useful for us. Because my elder daughter is at home in Ireland, she uses it quite a bit to communicate. I’m a friend on my daughter’s Facebook, so I can see what’s going on, I can see what she is posting on it – not all the time, obviously. But we have very open discussions about things.
“I suppose my daughter does spend a bit too much time on social media. But I discourage it when people are visiting and I talk to her about how you should conduct yourself on social media, and that you should also interact face to face.”
Afsheen Umair, mum of three, Abu Dhabi
“When my eldest son comes back from school, I say: ‘Give me your phone – now go to your room and do your homework.’ If I leave the phone with him, he’ll definitely be on it.
“Sometimes my kids put their subject topic on YouTube and they learn a few things from it. So it can be beneficial. But I think Whatsapp and Facebook are not.
“It is very addictive – I am also addicted. I use Whatsapp for chatting and Facebook for scrolling down and seeing what people are doing. It’s really just a waste of time. My kids come to my room and laugh at me. They say: ‘Mom, you’re using social media, too, why do you stop us from using it?’”
artslife@thenational.ae
