eSafety
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“My Mum Reads My Texts”… Checking Kids Phones and eSafety
“My Mum reads my texts”, is the digital age version of “My mum reads my diary”. Did you write a diary when you were younger? If you did, you may remember the fear of your parents reading it, finding out all those private thoughts, spying on you. Then the similarity between the diary and the smartphone ends, because a diary is kept private, while social media and text updates are shared with others. Many parents worry about their children, and their use of social media and smartphones. Are they being bullied – or are they bullying others? Are they sharing information that they shouldn’t? Who are they talking to online,…
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Crazy About One Direction – Teens and Social Media
Twitter was ablaze last night with disparaging comments about a group of young girls, known collectively as ‘Directioners’ – the fans of the group One Direction. The reason for the discussion was a report about a group of Directioners, who were interviewed and followed by a camera team from Channel 4, as the journalists attempted to find out – Why are these girls Crazy About One Direction? Directioners have a fierce reputation, and have recently been featured in GQ, who wrote about the Most Terrifying Responses to our One Direction Covers. GQ had revealed their new covers, which included quotes from 1D, which some Directioners objected strongly to.…
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The Social Media Generation
Most schools offer good advice, and have policies in place to tackle cyberbullying, but what about the wider implications of our kids being the first Social Media Generation? They have grown up with Facebook and Twitter, they are used to their lives being shared online. My kids say, ‘Put that on YouTube’ when I filmed the dog doing something funny. They have not yet learned the dark side of the internet. I have written about keeping kids safe on the internet, but how should we be teaching our kids about Social Media, and the long term implications of what they are tweeting or facebooking. I have had conversations with teachers who admitted…
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Protect Your Child Online – Dangers and Joy of the Internet
Protecting our children from danger in their day to day life is always a balancing act. How much freedom is enough for them to grow into independent and confident adults, while still keeping them safe. As much as we might like to wrap them up in cotton wool and keep them home, as they grow we have to loosen the apron strings and allow them to make their own experiences. Yes, they may come to harm, but that is part of growing up and all we can do is try to limit the harm. Just as you did when they were toddlers – you allowed them to crawl and walk,…
