According to a 2021 newspaper article in Straits Times, two-thirds of children aged seven to nine in Singapore use smartphones every day and are active on social media. More than 40 per cent of them have their own Facebook accounts, while a quarter are on Instagram. About a third of parents in the survey commissioned by The Straits Times say they do not know who their children interact with on social media.

Another study by Google in 2020 found that compared to countries such as Malaysia, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, because of the high usage of digital device, children in Singapore face a higher risk of encountering inappropriate content online as well as “oversharing information about themselves on social media”. The study also showed that Singapore had the highest cyber-bullying encounters in the region.

Are you concerned about how much time your child spends on the Internet and social media everyday?

It is no surprise if your response is yes. But how can we best take stock of their digital wellness?

Digital wellness is all about keeping a balance between one’s life online and offline. As their children were attending catechism classes on a Saturday afternoon, parents attended the workshop, Positive Parenting Programme (Triple P).

The speaker from Morning Star delivering the Digital Wellness workshops for parents at the Community Hall at St Joseph’s Church 

Triple P is an evidence-based programme that is fully subsidised by the Ministry of Social & Family Development. Implemented world-wide, Triple P has been designed to provide parents with skills and know how to prevent behavioural, emotional and developmental problems in children. Parents learn the 5 core principles of positive parenting: 

• Having a safe, interesting environment for children 

• Having a positive learning environment 

• Using assertive discipline 

• Having realistic expectations 

• Taking care of yourself as a parent 

Curated specially for Church of St Joseph (Bukit Timah), the workshop provided the parents with a rich perspective on positive parenting, with a special focus on ensuring the digital wellness of their children. Among many other learning points, these are some key takeaways these parents walked away with from the workshop: 

• Strategies to cultivate a sense of accountability among their children with regards to their digital consumption lent the parents practical aid 

• The importance of instilling confidence in their children through positive parenting and developing their competence in safeguarding their digital well-being. As most say, we need to disconnect to connect. The parents learnt the need to encourage their children to be engaged in family discussions and be involved in the community. This forms one of the coping mechanisms for children to be resilient in managing digital wellness. 

Overall, parents found the tips to be helpful in reaching that sweet spot where their children are able to maintain both online and offline connections, while being able to meet their psychosocial needs. Tip sheets were also sent to those who attended at least two of the three sessions of this workshop. 

If you have missed this workshop, don’t worry! There is another run of Triple P coming up soon. You can find out more about our upcoming events at Catholic Family Life’s website here: 

If you or your parish would like to organise a similar workshop to benefit others in your community, please contact cfl@familylife.sg.