Concerns from Constable Ross Greer as he takes 'Keeping Ourselves Safe' sessions with our students.

These are a couple of observations from KOS at East Taieri.

In the past years students in the Senior Syndicate have volunteered they have their own profiles on Facebook. As I tell the students it’s not my role to judge the appropriateness of this but I do highlight that the required age for Facebook is 13, and there are no students at the school of this age. I then point out if those students lied about their age, (which must happen to join Facebook) what else do people lie about on Social Media. The answer is - sometimes everything.

This year I found that Facebook is not generally used by the students in the Senior Syndicate but Snap Chat and Instagram are by a large number. Again the age to have a profile on these Social
Media sites is 13.

What was also new this time was at least half of the students in the Years 3 and 4 class said they had their own profiles on Snapchat and Instagram. I was surprised by this.

In one of the junior classes (a 5 year old boy) said he plays Online games and sometimes plays with people he doesn’t know. About 6 children said they play Online games with people they don’t know. Again I was surprised by this.

Every time I deliver KOS the march of Social Media and Online Gaming
is becoming part of younger children’s lives. I urge parents to be aware of how their children are interacting with these sites. As I tell the children the internet connects us with the whole world and while most people are good there are a few people we have to be careful about and these people use the internet as well.