Derry star Adam B on balancing life online and his new book

Adam Beales, who is 21 and from Derry, featured in an episode focusing on how to balance life online and offline.

Adam said, “I loved taking part in this, it’s such a different thing for me to do because people obviously see the jokey happy Adam on my Youtube channel and my social media but I think it is important to have that conversation about how to manage time spent online. It’s not to say that spending time online is bad, without the internet I wouldn’t have a career! It’s about discussing the pros and cons around spending time online and spending time offline and how we can live a healthier life with a healthier balance.

“I think with this series, the healthy/unhealthy balance is quite subjective as well. In the series, I explained that sometimes spending time online can be seen as a negative thing but I think if it’s your job or your career then you need it. So having a high screen time on your phone or in front of a screen isn’t necessarily bad because you’re working and creating things that can make a difference.

“At home, my mum has a few rules. One of them is no phones at the dinner table, like I discussed in the series. I think it is good in a way to have little habits instilled because, without it, there’s no time for family. Dinner time is probably the only time when the whole family is sat around the table and it’s healthy to look up and chat to one another instead of looking at your phone whilst munching on your dinner.

“It can be quite hard for parents and teachers to regulate what kids are doing online, especially when kids have their own devices. When there’s a few kids in the house it can be hard to manage all their devices and what they’re getting up to. I think the most important part of this series is to help young people not only think critically online, but to apply what they learnt in the real world as well.”

Adam was joined by Tik Tok stars Sara and Avni, who have a joint channel called Iconic Cakes.

He said, “It was great hearing their perspective on balancing online and offline and I think just generally that whole experience of filming that series was quite insightful. Not many people have that conversation and I think now that it’s documented and being promoted by Youtube, I think it’s a really important message for kids. I’m really proud to be part of this project and I hope it will really balance the conversation in households. So I’m pretty proud to be part of it.”

Speaking about being recognised in public, Adam said, “When you see kids faces light up when they see you, it’s a really hard feeling to describe - it makes me smile so much. You know they have probably watched hours upon hours of my videos and then they see me in real life and it probably makes their day. I’m always very thankful by than and taken-aback by how people can be surprised by me when I’m just some guy off the internet. I do draw the line at my family home because that’s strictly for family. Sometimes parents take the kids there but they need to realise that we also have a right to privacy. I’ve thrown my family into this online world, they were on a video once and then they got noticed in Sainsbury’s so they went through this whirlwind experience where they were faceless people behind a camera to then having people recognise them. Out in public is different though.

“It’s funny, it used to be young kids stopping us but as of the past year, it’s elderly people as well! It’s crazy the reach the online world has but it’s fantastic to have that support in my own home town. The people of Derry have been so supportive over the past years and I always feel the need to give back because of the support that I receive. Those giving back videos, I love them so much. I be so excited when we’re planning them! I can’t describe the feeling - if I could do that for every video I would.

Adam launched his new book ‘Adam wins the Internet’ on Thursday past and describes it as a ‘dream come true’ to have his book published, “in English class, I always loved doing stories. Anyone who knew be back in school would remember I loved doing multi-series of like fiction and things, I loved fiction. This book that I am working on now is something that I’ve bene working on since February 2020, just before the original lockdown. I’m glad I started it then because that year gave me so much time to be creative and sit down and write. It’s getting published with Bloomsbury and the whole team there have been so so supportive. They get the message as much as I do so it’s like a dream.”

Adam’s book will be released in October but is available to pre-order now at www.adamwinstheinternet.com.