Ollie Crowe hosted an energetic presentation by Elaine Byrnes from the School of Psychology at NUI Galway.
Elaine stepped away from the stage and delivered a powerful twenty-minute presentation entitled “Positively supporting our children in their online engagement (and what we can do when something goes wrong). Elaine explained that in her opinion she was no expert on the topic, but was speaking as a mother and wanted to explore the topic from her personal experience.
Elaine started out by explaining the importance of engaging with children and getting to know their world from their level. She suggested techniques such as asking your child for advice or help on, say, downloading an app or how to navigate through some tech. She feels that this is a way to break the barrier between adult and child and empowers the child to be more confident when a conversation starts about their online activity. “Using something that you have read, an article or news story is always a good conversation starter”. Elaine also suggested that is it good to ask your child what is important to them for keeping safe online and to go through their privacy settings for their apps together so that you can both figure out what information is ok to share. “Privacy, Privacy, Privacy”, Elaine explained is so important, and to remember to talk to your child about keeping aspects of their own lives private online, using an acronym devised by Australian educator, Kathleen Morris “Don’t YAP about your YAPPY:
Your full name
Address
Phone number
Passwords
Your plans and birthday
And also to think carefully before revealing… your opinions, information about others, geolocation, clubs/teams, photos/videos, holiday plans.
The presentation moved on to more stark statistics such as a Zeeko Digital Trend Report that said: “13% of secondary students said they had sent nude or semi-nude photos or videos of themselves”. And this then moved on to “What we can do if something has gone wrong”. Elaine’s first point was “Don’t Panic!”. She explained that a calm approach is needed as you work through the process to help repair any potential damage caused. “When something goes wrong on the internet it can cause negative feelings such as panic, regret, shame, embarrassment, anxiety, fear, isolation, reputation damage, future career fear, and even worries about future plans such as applying for a J1 visa”. The following steps were suggested if something goes wrong with your child following an internet incident:
• Contact the school
• Take control
• Contact the platforms involved directly (and outline if relevant that the material may be illegal)
• Involve and seek the advice of the Gardaí
• Provide and ensure continued support for your child
Elaine finished up her presentation by reiterating the previous speaker’s comments on the importance of empathy and how every child should be encouraged to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and see things from the victim’s perspective. She suggested talking to your child and get them to think “How would you feel if that happened to you?” and even “What would Granny think?” Elaine’s thought-provoking presentation received a great response from the audience.
