Thanks for joining me! Navigating through life is hard enough, let alone guiding our children through the pitfalls of social media and their use of technology, especially when we have yet to fully get to grips with it ourselves! The parental juggling act is never easy and as our children approach their teenage years, using technologies that weren’t around previously, it becomes ever more challenging. I hope this blog will help you with this in some small way. My aim is try to write (copy & steal) accessible and to the point posts that can be read in 1 minute or less.
These days children are often referred to as digital natives because they have only ever known a digital world. However, they really are anything but natives in terms of their online prowess. They have been surrounded by a technological world so complex and rapidly changing that gaining a grasp of how to behave, communicate and perform online is like trying to play Jenga during an earthquake. Their ability to evaluate their experiences in this ‘always on’ online world needs assistance through regular help and advice as part of everyday conversations about this aspect of their lives.
I have always tried to steer clear of scheduled, just for the sake of it, communications with parents. This year I have changed my mind, children are exposed to so many established systems from an ever decreasing age that there is no developed and timely learning pathway. With children having access to phones and social media at increasingly younger ages, there is no time for them to make mistakes in the safety of small groups. They have access to a worldwide audience in just the push of a button; one error of judgement can have devastating effects!
I have started this blog as a way to provide parents with relevant and up-to-date information, but also as a resource to dip into should you need to refer back to previous advice.
Please try to discuss the issues raised in these posts with your children and let me know if there are topics you would like me to try to address or advice you are able to share. I will do my best, but please remember this is a rapidly changing landscape at the moment, we do not have decades or centuries of experiences of a static scenario to rely upon. All we can do make reasoned judgements and informed choices.
St Michael's eSafety Blog 