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Let’s Red Flag, Green Flag Our Apps 🚩💚
We spend hours every day on apps, but how often do we stop to ask ourselves one simple question: How do they actually make us feel?
In this activity, every student is given a red flag and a green flag. Together, we build a list of the apps they use most, alongside a few that I bring to the conversation. One of our favourite parts of these sessions is discovering new apps from young people.
Once we’ve created our list, we begin to unpack each app. We talk honestly about the emotions they create, asking students to rate how each one makes them feel on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is feeling really low and 10 is feeling genuinely happy.
For students who find it difficult to put their feelings into words, the red and green flags become a simple but powerful way to communicate. A red flag means, “This doesn’t make me feel good,” while a green flag means, “This has a positive impact on me.”
What follows is always a thoughtful, honest discussion. Students begin to recognise that just because they use an app every day doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good for their wellbeing.
They reflect on which digital spaces lift them up, which ones drain them, and why.
It’s a simple activity, but one that encourages self-awareness, meaningful conversation, and healthier digital habits.
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