For more than 50 years Professor Marilyn Campbell has worked as a teacher, teacher librarian, school counsellor, psychologist, lecturer, researcher and mentor, dedicated to improving the wellbeing of young people.
“I say I look good for 123,” she laughed.
While she certainly has a sense of humour, when it comes to youth mental health, Professor Campbell, who is based at Queensland University of Technology’s School of Education, is in fact very serious.
“Young people’s mental health has been declining and not just since COVID, but that gave it a big hit, and we don’t know why,” she said.
The Queensland Mental Health Commission has acknowledged her outstanding contribution, awarding her with a lifetime achievement award.
“It came out of the blue. It’s a lovely thing to have happened to me to round out my professional life,” the 79-year-old said.
“I just want to help young people. It’s been a passion of mine all my life as a teacher and then as a school counsellor and teaching educational psychology at university.”
Professor Campbell has focused on anxiety disorders, the negative effects of bullying and how schools can be fun, happy places, so children don’t feel worried and anxious.
She said while many people blame the rise in technology there isn’t actually any evidence to support that technology is the main cause of the decline in mental health.
“While the rise in technology and the decline in mental health happened at the same time, there is yet no longitudinal studies that have confirmed that one causes the other,” she said.
“All you have is cross sectional studies that say the more screen time you have the poorer the mental health. However, research is now seeming to show that it’s not the amount of screen time it’s what you do on it that effects mental health.”
Professor Campbell does not think that banning social media and mobile phones is the most effective solution for young people.
“You ban something and young people think it must be exciting and terrific, and they will try to get around it.
“In fact, the latest information from the eSafety Commissioner shows most kids have got around the social media ban. A ban is a blunt instrument; education is more important for young people to be taught how to navigate the digital as well as the physical world.
“However, just as we have to make the physical world as safe as possible for our children, we have to make the digital world safe as well. Platforms need to incorporate safety by design.”
Parents have an important part to play as well.
“You don’t give your kid a bike and say, ‘go and play in the traffic’. You teach them how to ride it make sure they have a helmet on and don’t leave them alone until you are sure they are mature enough to keep themselves safe.”
“So it is with mobile phones. Parents need to understand the protections they are able to apply to mobile phones and make sure their child is mature enough to own one.”
Professor Campbell acknowledged raising children is hard and they don’t come with an instruction manual but believes a more sensible solution is to educate children on the right and wrong way to use technology.
She also has extensive experience in researching bullying, including cyberbullying, and wrote one of the earliest papers in early 2000’s on the topic.
She has been on a UNESCO panel looking at bullying and advised federal and state governments on the issue and mobile phone bans in schools.
Today she continues to support a number of PHD students, shaping the next generation of psychologists, counsellors and educators.
When not wearing her academic hat, professor Campbell can be found in her garden, where her passion for creating a beautiful and productive space is evident.
In the four years she has been there she has converted what she described as a cow paddock into a magnificent garden.
Although, it is clear her work is not complete as she says she is off to be interviewed by BBC Scotland for a story about banning mobile phones in schools.
