Around 50 parents attended Castle Rushen High School for a talk about online safety. Officers from Isle of Man Constabulary’s Southern Neighbourhood Policing teamed up with experts from Manx Telecom and school staff to organise the evening event on Wednesday October 21.

The talk started with PC Mike Griffiths and PC Pamela Robinson explaining some internet safety issues which police have had to deal with recently. This has included incidents of young people sharing inappropriate images and online bullying. A key theme of the evening was the importance of responsible parenting and good communication in protecting children and young people when they are online, and how this needed to strike a balance with all the benefits which the internet brings to families, be that for entertainment or education. Many children are now more comfortable with, and have a better understanding of, technology than their parents. For mums and dads struggling to keep up, one piece of advice was to spend more time as a family online. Whether it’s looking up recipes, playing games or befriending their children on social media, this family time online is a good way for parents to understand how their children use the internet, and develop their own online knowledge and skills.

The talks also covered cyber bullying and how to combat it, and – with many employers now routinely reviewing social media profiles of job applicants – the long-term implications we all face in regard to our ‘digital footprint’. The officers also gave advice about online fraud, and extortion by people using fake social media accounts.

Michael Clarke, Customer Support Manager at Manx Telecom, gave technical advice on what parents can do to help them and their families stay safe online. He said: “Creating a safe and secure wi-fi set-up at home which filters content can sound very daunting to many parents, but it doesn’t need to be. There are now a wide range of routers with parental controls which are all very easy to set up. In fact, ease of use is one of the main factors we consider when selecting the routers we stock. In addition, we have step by step guides available on our website to make setting up routers as simple and straightforward as possible.”

The Castle Rushen High School event is just the latest online safety initiative supported by Manx Telecom. Every year, the company contributes presentations to the Crucial Crew event which teaches life skills to primary school children from across the Island. Earlier this year Manx Telecom produced a booklet called ‘A Teenager’s Guide to Staying Safe Online’ in association with Isle of Man College and Isle of Man Constabulary. It contains lots of useful hints and tips on everything from how to manage your digital footprint to where to go for help if someone is a victim of cyber-bullying or trolling. There’s also a digital version which can be found downloaded from www.manxtelecom.com/onlinesafety and the same link includes a guide for children aged up to 14 called ‘Stay safe online’ and a guide to mobile safety. You can find advice on how to use ‘parental controls’ features on wireless routers by going to www.manxtelecom.com and searching for ‘parental controls’.

Photo - The front cover of ‘A Teenager’s Guide to Staying Safe Online’ which can be download at www.manxtelecom.com/onlinesafety