SPCK Assemblies - So Much Scrolling!

So Much Scrolling!

Screen-Free Week runs from 1 to 7 May 2023

by Claire Law

Suitable for Whole School (Sec)

Aims

To consider how we experience advertising via screens and explore the benefits of reduced exposure to social media.

Preparation and materials

You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (So Much Scrolling!) and the means to display them.
Have available the YouTube video ‘Bird’s Eye “Garden Pea” by Lintas’ and the means to show it during the assembly. It is 0.34 minutes long and is available at: https://youtu.be/TZcLC36ouA4

Assembly

Have Slide 1 showing as the students enter the assembly.
Show Slide 2.

The slide shows a watch, a tube of toothpaste and a bag of frozen peas.

Ask the students, ‘Does anyone know what these three things have in common?’

Listen to a range of responses.
Explain that the answer is that each of these products featured in a ground-breaking TV advert.

The first ever paid-for TV commercial in the world was for the Bulova watch brand. The ten-second commercial was broadcast in the USA in July 1941, before a televised baseball game. The advert features the slogan, ‘America runs on Bulova time’. A few thousand people are estimated to have seen this commercial when it was originally broadcast.
Gibbs SR toothpaste featured in another advertising first: the first TV advert ever to air in the UK. It was shown when ITV launched on 22 September 1955. The black-and-white advert describes in detail the benefits of using this brand of toothpaste.
Birds Eye frozen peas were the subject of the first colour TV advert shown in the UK. The advert might seem dated now, but it was cutting-edge at the time.

Let’s take a moment to watch this advert, which is part of TV history.

Show the YouTube video ‘Bird’s Eye “Garden Pea” by Lintas’ (0.34 minutes long).
Advertising has come a long way since those early days. However, screen-based advertising is still very much a part of our lives in 2023.

When we watch most TV channels, we are exposed to advertising through both advertisements and targeted product placement. Research indicates that, in 2021, TV viewers in the UK saw, on average, 36 TV adverts per person per day, which is over 13,000 per year. This figure is lower than in previous years, which may be down to our increasing use of social media. Businesses often design their advertising campaigns to incorporate a range of advertising types, including online, TV, newspaper, magazine and billboard.
I wonder if we find that figure surprising. Do we sense that we watch 36 TV adverts per day? How do we feel about that?
Henry Labalme was someone who was unhappy about being exposed to so many adverts. In 1994, he joined up with his friend Matt Pawa to launch TV Turnoff Week. Sixteen years later, this annual event became known as Screen-Free Week.

Every year, the first week of May is Screen-Free Week. It promotes the idea of stepping away from our screens, thereby experiencing less exposure to advertisements. During Screen-Free Week, we are encouraged to enjoy outdoor activities and rediscover the joys of life beyond ad-supported screens.

The week provides a chance to reset and enjoy time away from news feeds, targeted adverts and autoplay videos. The aim is to give families and communities an opportunity to come together and connect with each other.
How do we feel about the idea of having less - or even no - screen use for a week?

Many of us rely heavily on our mobile devices to connect with others and to access information. As we do so, we are exposed to many advertising messages that seek to persuade us to spend money on products.

In addition, scrolling through websites or social media can become a mindless activity, where our attention is simply consumed by what we see. However, although this information is going into our minds, we often aren’t paying full attention, so we might not even be aware of what we’ve just viewed.
There are many benefits that are associated with our ready access to screens, but research suggests that it can cause problems too.

- A 2015 study carried out by the Office for National Statistics found that children in the UK were twice as likely to report high or very high scores for mental ill-health if they used social networking sites for three hours or more on a school day.
- A 2021 survey conducted by US company ExpressVPN on 1,500 Americans found that 86 per cent of respondents aged 16 to 24 reported that social media had a direct effect on their happiness. A similar percentage said that their social media use had made them feel anxious, depressed and lonely.
- Another 2021 pilot study by the Libyan Journal of Medicine on 68 university students found that most of them reported a positive change in mood, reduced anxiety and improved sleep during, and immediately after, a break from social media.
These statistics indicate that being mindful about our use of screens and our exposure to advertising may be something that we should consider implementing.

I wonder how we feel about choosing to limit our exposure to advertising.

Time for reflection

As we take time to reflect on what we’ve covered in this assembly, let’s make sure that we keep our focus.

Remember, advertising seeks to capture our attention and fix it on a given product. However, we can choose for ourselves where we fix our attention: we can be mindful about it. This attitude of mindful attention is an idea that we find in many of the world’s religions. For example, prayer involves deliberately focussing our attention towards God. The Bible encourages us to be mindful about our focus and fix our attention on admirable things.

Show Slide 3.

In the New Testament part of the Bible, we read, ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.’ (Philippians 4.8)

These words encourage readers to fix their attention on admirable things. This is why praying regularly and choosing to read from the Bible are important to Christians. They believe that doing these things can ensure that at least some of the day is spent choosing to place their focus on God.

Christians also believe that focusing on Jesus helps them to live how God wants them to live.

Show Slide 4.

In Hebrews 12.2, we read, ‘Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.’ In other words, readers are urged to be mindful about choosing to give their attention to Jesus.

Let’s consider where we want to fix our attention today.

Pause to allow time for thought.

Let’s consider our own relationships with ad-supported screens.

- To what extent are we mindful of what we are exposed to?

Pause to allow time for thought.

- To what extent do we find ourselves mindlessly scrolling?