Children urged to think about online safety

The initiative, launched at Whiteabbey Primary to mark Safer Internet Day (February 9), will involve a team from Microsoft visiting 53 primary schools across Northern Ireland to deliver internet safety sessions to pupils, encouraging them to ‘think before they post’.

Research released by Microsoft highlights the pressing need to educate children and teenagers in responsible internet use and online awareness. Of the teenagers surveyed, 64 per cent of them said that they have been approached online by a stranger through their social networking page. Furthermore, results reveal that a staggering 65 per cent of have responded or contacted a stranger online or via social networking sites - a cause for serious concern for parents, guardians and teachers.

Commenting on the issue of internet safety, Paul Tanner of Microsoft Ireland said: “As part of Safer Internet Day we are partnering with the PSNI, government and educational representatives to highlight the importance of this issue. We take our responsibilities as a leader in the ICT industry very seriously and prioritise the issue of child online safety in all of our activities.”

Constable Brian Herron, from Newtownabbey Police added: “Young people are using online tools like Bebo, Facebook, and Twitter to write about their lives, express their views and, more importantly, to connect and share their lives with friends. In these spaces audiences are invisible, contexts are fluid, and distinctions between public and private are becoming increasingly blurred. Young people try to use privacy settings to restrict who can see their personal information, how it can be searched, and in what context it can be seen. However, in reality these measures can be circumvented easily. We are delighted to work with Microsoft again this year and to join them and our colleagues across Northern Ireland in calling on young people to take control of their personal information and to ‘Think Before You Post’.”

Guidelines on internet safety can be viewed online at www.microsoft.com/ireland/onlinesafety