The following is an adapted version of an article written by Anita Farkas, originally published in Magyar Krónika.

It is already a cliché that we grew up on the playground and our kids spend much of their time in the digital jungle. We can complain about it, but it is pointless. It is much more a question of whether we can find the paths together that are still comfortable to walk. Magyar Krónika talked to psychologist Dániel Tóth, an expert in digital education, about finding that path.

Dániel Tóth is a psychologist, influencer, and father of several children. He has been researching the mysteries of the digital world for 15 years. He is constantly visiting educational institutions, giving lectures, writing articles, and, since 2015, has been making videos on the subject on his YouTube channel A Pszichológus Pasi (The Psychologist Fella). He summarized 15 years of research and experience in a two-volume book, published in 2022, titled Digital Education — A Guide to the Maze of the Internet, Video Games, and Smart Gadgets. It is available free of charge to all schools now.

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A government decree restricting the use of smart devices in schools from September was published in early August last year. Is this really the solution to the new generation’s much-talked-about gadget addiction?

Not an easy question. It’s a bit like the Prohibition era was back then; I’m not sure that the total restriction has succeeded in stopping everyone from drinking alcohol. There is no doubt, however, that the phenomenon has become more and more rampant: in those schools where there were no restrictions, children were on their gadgets all day, which was obviously not good for them mentally and psychologically, not to mention their academic performance. But simply taking smart devices out of their hands temporarily has not solved anything. The aim should be to teach them and to learn to use the internet consciously.

Within the school setting, or even through guided tasks in the classroom?

For example. But unfortunately, it is not that simple. The educational system is at least 20 years behind technology. Typically, so are the ones—university teachers and psychologists—who train teachers themselves. I would therefore say that everything now depends on individual creativity rather than on a directive from above, as has been the case for many decades. We need a software update in schools and the minds of parents, otherwise, we will open up even greater generation gaps than we have now. It is not difficult to understand why: today’s adults still have memories of a world without social media, the internet, and mobile phones, and therefore have a different identity and communication than their digital native children. They, by the way, are often the ones who hand over the phone and tablet to them as a baby—as if they were putting a pacifier dipped in alcohol in their mouths to keep them still—, further increasing the distance between them. This creates the basic conflict that children will soon have 100 per cent autonomy in the digital world, they will get used to it, and then they will not understand why the school suddenly wants to treat them like kindergarteners—of course, they will resist any attempt to limit them.

‘The education system is at least 20 years behind technology’

What could be the first step to getting students, teachers, and smart devices to work together in peace?

Just as children and parents are not the same, teachers and schools are obviously different as well, some striving for consensus, others less so. I always encourage everyone—children, parents, and teachers likewise—to create their own digital policies, with clear rules, and then to consistently follow them.

What does a digital policy look like?

First of all, it specifies exactly when the gadgets can be used: before, after, or even during lessons, for example, to do a curriculum-related task, search, or use an app. Suppose this point is now rendered redundant by the new regulation, but there is still plenty to talk about. For example, what happens outside school, in the afternoon, evening, or at night in Viber and Messenger class groups: how can students talk to each other, what pictures they can share, and where is the point at which they need to seek outside help. This would help to develop a certain culture of thought and behaviour, as well as a well-functioning digital immune system that can protect against cyberbullying. By keeping this topic constantly on the agenda, children will also learn responsibility: to communicate online in a way that they can take offline the next day.

That’s the point: to somehow lure them out of a world invisible to us?

Yes. That is why the most important thing is not what is in this digital policy, but the constant discourse on such issues. And to really involve young people as well, who, surprisingly, would often impose stricter rules on themselves than adults, which shows that they have a huge need for frameworks. In other words, to put it simply, we don’t need an educational system with pressure, rewards, and punishments from above, but children themselves need to start to understand and feel that it’s not good to make fun of someone, for example, because the tables can turn quickly, and that the person with the most likes on Instagram may not be the most valuable in the real world.

‘[Younger people], surprisingly, would often impose stricter rules on themselves than adults, which shows that they have a huge need for frameworks’

And there’s one more thing we should definitely learn together: privacy policy. How are we doing on that?

Not well. At least one or two out of a hundred children are sure to come across hackers, criminals, or, even worse, paedophiles when using games and social media. Far more often than that, they become the victims of contemporary bullies or easily become bullies themselves. Even very young children are geniuses at turning off parental control software so they can scroll through TikTok without stopping, but their real cybersecurity knowledge, including us adults, is still pretty poor. Perhaps at least in IT lessons more could be said about such topics.

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