FEATURE
“ Was that okay?”,“ Why did they say that?” or“ Isn’ t that harmful?” The cultural shift is real. Young people are holding adults to account, and rightly so.
The darker side of‘ too much exposure’
We are quick to admit that children are‘ growing up too fast’ because of what they’ re exposed to online. And yes, the Internet is vast, and not all of it is appropriate for developing minds. Particularly with the terrifying rise of‘ alpha males’,‘ manosphere’ communities, misogynistic podcasts and anti-female content as highlighted in Netflix’ s hit‘ Adolescence’.
But there’ s also a maturity emerging. With exposure comes awareness. Rather than being passive consumers, many children are developing critical thinking, self-reflection and the ability to name harm when they see it.
They are learning not just to cope, but to resist. To ask for better. To demand that their learning environments be not only educational, but emotionally safe and inclusive.
A new generation of whistleblowers
What we’ re seeing is a generation of young people who understand what constitutes
This exposure, often dismissed as‘ woke culture’, is actually nurturing ethical intelligence.
abuse, how to call it out and how to protect others too. They are using technology to inform, support and protect themselves, sometimes even to protect each other, anonymously or otherwise.
We should be proud of them.
Of course, we want to believe that most teachers are dedicated professionals, doing their best to support and nurture young minds. Many are. But we must also be honest: some are not. And when schools become complicit in hiding or minimising that, it is children who pay the price.
Technology, once seen as a threat to education, may actually be its most powerful safeguard. ✓
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