Blocking Haters and Posting Positivity

YEAR 7 students at St Joseph’s have some tips for parents on cyber safety and helping others navigate the world of social media.

St Joseph’s Students Posting Positivity: Heidi Richards, Amber Morgan, Chynna Eriksson, Charlotte Bell, Aneira Bray and Ella Sinclair.

“Make sure your children understand their responsibilities on social media what photos they can post and what comments they can make,” said Chynna Eriksson.

Ms Sinead Brady, teacher at St Joseph’s held an online safety lesson as part of ‘e-smart week’ at St Joseph’s and said while the advice may sound straight forward, understanding privacy settings and how to keep safe online is not something many parents who don’t use social media themselves may recognise.

“It is a god idea not to let children enter their date of birth, not to use their last name or enter their address or phone number and not to use any check in status, relationship status, email address and not to give out your passwords even to friends,” said Ms Brady.

“But the internet and social media is fantastic if it is used safely and positively,” she said.

“I showed them my own Facebook page and I have more than 30 friend requests I haven’t responded to because I don’t know them well enough to have most of my personal details,” she said.

“But I love using Skype with my family back in Ireland there are lots of great things on social media, so it should not be something people should be afraid of, but smart about,” Sinead Brady said.

The students talked about why people cyber bully, why people may behave differently online compared to in person, the impact cyber bullying can have and how to overcome issues online.

The guiding principle for online activity was to ‘block the haters’ and ‘post positivity’.

“Cyber bullying can affect people deeply and can hurt people,” said Ella Sinclair.

“Use the internet wisely, think before you send something and make sure it is positive,” said Aneira Bray.