Twenty-five years ago, most young Britons wanted a job in law, to be a doctor, or, if they were creative enough, to take up singing. But today, things stand differently.

According to a research by Tesco Mobile, a UK company, the “dream job” of young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK is a video blogger, or “vlogger”. The research, carried out among 1, 002 people, found that as much as 40 percent of them put vlogger as their number one choice on a list of ideal careers.

This change is undoubtedly as a result of the Internet and social media. They have made it so much easier to reach audience around the world, without having to enter a career in show business in the traditional way.

In the past, the biggest stars were trained by the Hollywood studios; now, anyone with a computer camera can become a star. Vloggers are the big stars of today because they are normal people interacting with their fans about everyday life.

However, what people see is only the bright side of being a vlogger and they fail to notice the fact that only those who are successful earn fame and money. For every success there are hundreds of others who never get off the starting line. There are the dreams that come true and the dreams that remain dreams forever.

Although being vloggers is popular, some young people choose to follow careers that don’t necessarily earn them fame, but allow them to make good use of the Internet to share their hobbies. Young Israeli David Leshaw, for example, runs a business called the Finishers Club. It’s an online platform for runners to keep a record of their races. His job allows him to express his fun and is always a learning experience. And that’s enough for him.

While technology addicts teens to their devices, they are not helpless against the draw of it. Here are five ways educators can support their students’ digital well-being.

Explore design tricks companies use. The technology we use daily is designed to catch and hold our attention. Companies know what keeps our eyes on the screen. To help, teachers can unpack design tricks and explain how companies employ features like auto-play to get users to stay on their apps. 【小题1】

Talk about how technology can increase feelings of anxiety. The decline in youth mental health is associated with an increase in social media use. 【小题2】 We can help our students by allowing them to consider the benefits of technology and then to think about changing the habits that aren’t serving their well-being.

【小题3】 Social media can bring the feeling: “All my friends have better lives than me.” Plus, design features like “read receipts” can lead to teens knowing their messages have been seen and stressing about why friends haven’t yet replied. These are classic examples of thinking traps. Identifying them can help teens get rid of some negative thoughts.

Uncover the ways that AI can play a role in misinformation. AI is rapidly transforming the world. Recommendation algorithms (算法), which determine what we do and do not see on our feeds and in our search results, can have very real consequences. 【小题4】 By understanding how these technologies work, students can start to enjoy more benefits of technology.

Encourage families to have meaningful conversations with their child. Take the time to share with families the topics and resources you’re teaching in class. 【小题5】 Knowing we’re all in the same boat is crucial.

There’s a lot of anxiety around how young people, particularly teenagers, use the internet but new research by Talk Talk suggests some of these fears may be emphasized too much.

In a recent study, 2,000 young people aged 13-16 year olds and the parents of the same teenagers, were interviewed about their attitudes to technology and loneliness. The teens were mainly optimistic about technology and its uses. Over half (71 percent) said that during times when they felt lonely, tech provided a solution to their loneliness such as enabling them to make new friends, receive support and advice, as well as read positive comments online.

However, social media was regarded as a cause for feeling lonely by 12 percent of teens, who said they felt lonely because they didn’t have many friends on social media.

When it comes to the parents, on the other hand, it demonstrated that there is an education gap between worrying about the internet, and knowing what to do about it.

For instance, 70 percent of parents worry bout their teens using the internet, but 65 percent said they did not limit the hours their teen spends using social media and tech, and 70 percent reported they don’t use parent protection controls and software. Around 37 percent said they feel ill-equipped or unsure about how to manage their teens online.

It seems like when it comes to teens on the internet, the main issue is with the parents not understanding what they’re doing. Research by Oxford University academics found there was little evidence between screen time and mental health in teenagers. The study used a mixture of self-reporting techniques as well as time-use diaries.

The research reflected another study earlier this year by the same academics that found technology use explains at most 40 percent of adolescent wellbeing (幸福安乐).

We’re still learning about how things like social media impact our health and wellbeing, but at least in this instance, it demonstrates that the Generation Z’s digital understanding nature means they may have more of a hold on tech and its effects than their parents do.

If you are a parent and worrying about your child’s screentime use, security company Norton has put together a handy guide on how to manage it, such as setting limits on screen time, and talk about the risks of sharing private information on social media.