Often when we meet with parents, they are interested in any advice or suggestions to help with issues or challenges that may crop up during their child’s time at school. A common topic of discussion with parents is often around technology and social media. As useful as they can be in helping us connect with the world in ways that we wouldn’t have previously considered possible, there are very real risks and threats to how it is used by young people. There is no doubt that the rate of advances in technology has moved much faster than the rules, laws and expectations as to how it should be used and with this rate of change, for many parents, it feels that we are ‘still catching up’.

If there is one website that I would strongly encourage parents to explore, it is the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. https://www.esafety.gov.au/

They provide a range of resources, parent friendly reading and case studies to go through with your family. One of the most important resources they have is the mechanism to report illegal activity, harassment and online abuse.

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner have legislative power to respond to cyberbullying, image-based abuse, and illegal and harmful online content. One of the best ways for parents and young people to improve a situation that is getting out of hand online is to use the reporting page on their website.

Whilst the administrators of popular social media platforms may have ‘report an issue’ buttons or functions on their page, it is the eSafety Commissioner that legally has the capacity to act quickly to improve situations for young people online. Please take the time to talk to your children about how they use technology and social media and talk about the importance of finding balance by ‘switching off’. Ask them what do they do if they come across something that they know ‘isn’t okay’. Encourage them to speak with an adult at home so you can then make a decision what the best next steps may be. It may be that you can find the help you need through the Commissioners website, or it may be helpful for it to be reported to school.