Pirates Swim Team in Karori. Photo: Supplied / Pirates Swim Team
Sports coaches and dance teachers say social media can be positive and inspiring for teenagers as they learn to juggle schedules and responsibility.
The National Party wants to ban children under 16 from accessing social media by forcing companies to use age verification measures. MP Catherine Wedd, with the backing of leader Christopher Luxon, has put forward a members' bill which would follow Australia's lead on cracking down on the social media giants.
Wellington swim coach Steve Francis said he emailed the parents of younger children having swimming lessons, but when it came to communicating with his training squads, for those over 12, the onus was on the teens to text him or message him on social media if they were sick or could not come.
Francis, who is the head coach of Pirates Swim Team in Karori, said parents get a "constant influx" of emails from school and activity groups, so it made sense to contact the swimmers directly.
"So for example, if they can't make sessions, or [they're] sick or whatever, the onus is on them to let me know. They can either message me on social media or they can text me or they can email whatever is easiest to them."
They also have a group chat on WhatsApp. "The reason that I've put it on there is because I've set the controls so that only I can message on that group ... with teenagers it can turn into a free for all pretty quickly."
He used to run a group message on Instagram. "That could get pretty messy. So I wanted it to be a really simple way of communicating, somewhere I can upload information that they need to know, but they can't reply back. They can message me directly, which they do. But on that group chat I've changed the settings so that they can't reply, which I found works really well."
It was important as an adult communicating with minors directly to keep his replies "very basic", he added.
"If the younger squads message me to say they're sick or whatever, I just give them a thumbs up, or I say thanks for letting me know. I try not to engage in conversation."
Social media was just one part of the teenagers' progress into adulthood, he said.
"Our swimmers are here at 5am and then back again in the evening. I see them get their learner's licence and then their restricted and they start driving themselves to the pool. Gradually as they get into those teen years, it's also about the parents being able to just step back, and let them be in charge of their own swim journey."
A Dunedin dance teacher said apps like Instagram were a great way to share inspiring and instructional videos to her older students.
Angelina Cockerill, who runs Black&White Dance - a hip hop and jazz studio in Ōtepoti, said the videos were not always passed on by busy parents, so she used social media for a small group of students over 13.
Cockerill said she personally does not believe a ban will work, but if it came in, she hoped it would still be possible to contact students on a group chat medium such as WhatsApp.
"Instagram is a fantastic platform to share some videos for educational purposes or sharing ideas. I also use [Facebook] Messenger as a communication tool."
Angelina Cockerill Photo: Supplied / Black&White Dance Studio
Cockerill agreed it was good for teenagers to be responsible for their own schedules. "And in dance, it can help them remember we exactly they need to practise or be inspired by."
Sometimes communicating through parents was actually "a bit of an obstacle", she said. "I want to share inspirations and tutorials but if I have to go through parents ... I'm sure that many times, it probably doesn't reach the students.
"Being able to communicate with the teenagers directly is a fabulous thing as they can access this information straight away."
Dancers at Black&White Dance Studio. Photo: Supplied / Black&White Dance Studio
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