In the last four-five years, students ranging from secondary school ages all the way up to postgraduates have started sharing their revision notes and educational experience in the form of blogs, 'studyblrs', 'studygrams' and 'studyvlogs'. With the majority of users on Instagram and YouTube, users share their own work and follow others in order to gain inspiration and help each other revise more effectively. These accounts often follow a carefully curated 'aesthetic' where notetaking can become elaborate and artistic, which is likely why young people have started to become more interested in quality stationery and 'lettering'.
It has become so big that companies as large as STAEDTLER have focused their advertisements around studygrams and have written articles on how to start one - https://www.staedtler.com/uk/en/discover/starting-a-studygram/ .
A lot of young people have started vlogging on YouTube to document their educational experience, sharing their notes, tips on revision, exams, their fields of interest and managing their mental health. 'The StudyTube Project' which was started on the 19th of March, 2020, aimed to motivate and ease students during lockdown by featuring many popular StudyTube creators, publishing a new video every week.
My child wants to create/ has a Studygram - how can I support them?
1) Safety First:
Having an interest in studying, of course, is amazing! Studygrams and Studyvlogs can be an excellent hobby for kids, but they must be done safely. For those with children still in secondary school, it is important that they meet the age requirements of social media sites like Instagram and YouTube when signing up for an account, and it is in your best interest to potentially block users from following back/ commenting/ restricting certain language to protect your children from others.
Setting an account to private is a good way of blocking people you don't know from seeing their content, and restricting their ability to privately message your child. Your child must also be very careful not to reveal personal information such as their last name, number, email account or what school they go to in their description or feed (when taking photos they must be careful not to share images of clothes/ bags/ etc with their school logo).
2) Investing in Stationery!
You don't need to spend a lot of money to start a Studygram, but when buying the better quality stationery which would include notebooks, loose-leaf paper, highlighters, brush pens, liners, pencils, washi tape, stickers, watercolours, markers and so much more...it can become a little pricey! Buying some basics to start with is best so your child can decide whether they want to turn notetaking into a full-blown hobby or if it's just a 5-minute wonder.
You can find all sorts of products online, but you can make a day of it by taking your child on a trip to WHSmiths, Ryman's, or the Range. Picking out the products by hand is part of the fun. Companies like STAEDTLER are perfect for beginners as they are relatively cheap for the quality and have children in mind as their target audience.
3) Studygram/ StudyTube anxiety:
A lot of young people who follow the top Studygram/ StudyTube accounts experience anxiety over 'not being as good', not 'having the best stationery', 'the best camera', the 'most aesthetic room', not being 'as motivated' as these individuals to study. What they won't realise is that since these accounts curate their content so perfectly and are likely older individuals with access to a lot of spare income, that they are unfairly comparing themselves and forgetting these individuals had to start somewhere too. When your child shows you their notes praise them on how nice they look, and remind them that even these perfect influencers struggle with their work - they just don't show it.