Staying safe and setting boundaries in 2019 is vastly different than it was in 1989. In 1989 there were only 3 TV stations (you may have picked up a Melbourne channel if the weather was good!), there were no DVD’s, no internet or mobile phones and being home before dinner or before dark may have been a common expectation – otherwise you may have been grounded!

Technology has provided some significant improvements and efficiencies in to our daily lives, but it has opened up a number of risks and vulnerabilities for our young people. As a school, we don’t shy away from the fact that technology is a part of many people’s daily lives so education needs to be in place about staying safe, particularly on social media and across the internet. As a school, we have a number of strategies, in class and across the school including the recent parent information session with Tasmania Police facilitating the Think U Know program.  This week we have had instances of students having their school email accounts compromised by international servers, as they entered their email/password in to non-secure websites. Passwords should be changed regularly and use a range of letters/numbers/symbols to increase password strength.

As parents, there are a number of steps that you can take starting with setting some expectations around technology and social media use as a family. Is the wifi turned off at a set time? Do you have device free days? Are devices placed on a central charging station before bed? Another strategy is to install a distress app on your phone that connects with two key adults/guardians in the event of a critical incident – the Daniel Morcombe Foundation is one such organisation that have the ‘Help Me’ app that is endorsed by many educators and emergency services. 

https://www.esafety.gov.au/

https://www.danielmorcombe.com.au/index.html