Longford schools invited to take a CyberBreak

Ireland's online safety charity, CyberSafeKids, is delighted to be hosting its third annual 24-hour ‘CyberBreak’, from 5pm on Friday, October 21 to 5pm on Saturday, October 22.

Supported by the Lifes2Good Foundation, CyberBreak encourages families and schools all over Ireland to participate in taking a much needed break from the online world. 

CyberSafeKids is encouraging schools and families in Longford to get on board and sign up now at www.cybersafekids.ie

Families should embrace the opportunity of having device-free time as a family, to discuss how they can find a healthy balance between their online and offline lives and to make it a fun-filled and memorable day for the whole family. 

Schools and families can find the following resources at www.cybersafekids.ie/ cyberbreak to help prepare for the day itself:

Classroom activities: some games and activities to challenge your pupils to think about life offline - what it was like in the olden days before smart devices!
Fun guide: some suggestions on what to do during your 24 hour break – why not add your own?!
Top online safety tips: a reminder of healthy tech habits for home
Recent CyberSafeKids research has found that 95% of children aged 8 - 12yrs own a smart device and 87% are signed up to social media and messaging apps, despite being under the minimum age requirement of 13 for all of the popular sites.  

Top Tips for parents include:

●     Start the conversation now! As soon as your child shows interest in your phone or tablet, talk about what's okay and not okay to do online in an age appropriate manner. Talk to your kids about what they do and see online as often as possible.

●     Do your research. Check out the apps and games that your child is using or wants to use. Download it yourself or watch videos on YouTube about it and see what functionality it has. Look, in particular, at whether it has a chat facility, how to apply safety /privacy settings and how to report abuse.

●     Agree the rules. Put appropriate boundaries in place and apply them consistently, e.g. where they can use their devices, who can be on their friends lists, what behaviour is acceptable, and not to share location. Most importantly keep an eye on what your children are doing online.

For more information on CyberBreak, please go to www.cybersakekids.ie where you will find lots of helpful resources, top tips and advice.