Youth federation workshop on cyber safety

Meath Youth Federation recently held a 'Safebook' workshop as part of a cyber safety child protection awareness workshop. Parents everywhere are concerned as the latest reports of cyber bullying sweep the country, following the tragic and untimely death of a young school girl in Donegal. A widespread discussion has been triggered about the dangers that social media can hold for young people. Bullying is a concept that everyone can identify with, and traditionally, parents are adept at handling their child's bullies by talking to their teachers, the perpetrators, and drawing from their own experiences. But the playing field has changed, and bullying now has a new playground- social media. But if parents are in the dark about facebook, twitter, ask.fm and other mediums- how do you help your child in trouble? Greg Canty, social media consultant and Director at Fuzion PR said "Social media is a fantastic way of communicating and connecting, both in business and socially, but it does not have to be dangerous, if you use it responsibly. With cyber bullying centre stage at the moment, we at Fuzion have decided to play our part and take action to help prevent and stamp out cyber bullying. We used the tools of our trade to communicate some simple safeguard measures. We have designed a simple chart that will help educate parents, teachers and the young social media users on how to prevent and react to cyber bullying. Already we have received requests from all over Europe, the US, Canada and even Japan, looking for the explanatory chart. We really hope it will encourage others to join in the movement." Education cuts mean that schools cannot offer the same one-to-one counselling service to students in distress, according to a new survey by the second-level school management organisation, the Joint Managerial Body (JMB). With a recent report citing that victims of cyber-bullying may have no one to turn to in school to help them deal with the problem, it is clear that social media education is urgently needed. Greg Canty continued: "Social media is a powerful communication platform, but unfortunately it can provide a place for bullies to reside with more ammunition, with a thicker skin and the ability to bully from a distance and often with a degree of anonymity. We must all make it our responsibility to protect the vulnerable by helping them, their parents, guardians and teachers to learn and understand how these powerful and very useful social media platforms work, discover the risks and plan so that these risks can be managed and minimised." So lets lead the way- showing children how to: · Set up their personal accounts properly · Maintain their privacy settings · Connect with "friends" safely · Think about what they post · Post appropriately · Spot and deal with inappropriate behaviour · "Unfriend" and Block certain users · Report Bullying "While social media is both powerful and enjoyable, in the wrong hands it can be very dangerous. This presents new challenges and responsibilities, which we need to take very seriously to protect our young people" Greg concluded. For anyone wishing to download a print friendly "Safebook" poster for their notice board or to share online, visit www.fuzion.ie