A new play about social media

For high school classroom use

Last year, I was invited to work with a group of students at St. Rita’s College. St. Rita’s is an all-girl school perched high atop a nauseatingly valuable piece of land in Clayfield, Brisbane. I’ve been lucky enough to spend a few workshops there over the years and have always enjoyed the enthusiastic rigour of the drama students - who are, ultimately, like any other group of teenagers you’d meet anywhere else.

Still, my prejudice against their wealth flared. When I talked with their drama teacher about the extracurricular activities, she mentioned that they only had a school production every second year. This was an ‘off’ year.

‘That must be good for you then,’ I said, knowing that drama teachers usually dedicate hours of unpaid time to prepare school productions.

‘Yeah, but it means we do the New York trip instead,’ she shrugged.

I tried not to gasp audibly.

Such privilege, I assumed, would surely innoculate the students from the world's depravity.

Not so.

Set with devising a play about social media with them, we talked. More than half of them had been sent unsolicited dick pics, they confessed. Bullying and friendship turmoil were rife and sometimes equivalent to psychic terrorism.

But it was more complicated than saying ‘social media’ is awful. Most liked social media and were on their devices far less than many adults I know.

They said their phone use and social media had become a catch-all for more significant issues. Most of them frequently felt overlooked by their parents or teachers because any given problem - depression, confusion, anxiety - could be ‘solved’ by diminishing phone use. And, of course, adults would tell them this while scrolling on their own devices.

For the last few years, I’ve taught a theatre history course charged with touring students through Western theatre history from 1850 to now. We finish the final weeks in contemporary drama and examine social media and mental health. The statistics are staggeringly bad, and I would recommend those interested look at the documentary The Social Dilemma on Netflix if you haven’t already.

From 2009 through 2015, girls aged 15-19 admitted to hospital for non-fatal self-harm rose 62%. For girls 10-14, it rose 189%. The sharpest jump was around 2010-2011 when social media became available on mobile. We see a similar pattern with suicide rates.

This fuelled the play's creation - the full script is available here for paid subscribers. I look forward to hearing how other schools respond to it and talking more.

Also, happy new year, it’s great to be back.

Script below. (You can find another full script here, an adaptation of my memoir, How to Be Happy.)