The internet. This is one of parents biggest worries with their kids in today’s day and age. Children as young as ten are getting smartphones which opens them up to a world they might not be ready for yet. At the same time, parents have no idea what sites they are on or who they are talking to. Cyber-bullying is a global epidemic that is effecting children all over the world.
A study has shown that in Ireland alone, about 1 in 5 kids are cyber-bullied. About 30% of these kids have shown feelings of depression as a result. It can be difficult for adults to understand as they would have grown up in a completely different world. Only about 1 in 10 suffered from cyber-bullying. So we have found a group that want to do something about it.
Meet CyberSmarties
CyberSmarties is an awesome Irish based social media network for children that has blown up since it started in January of this year. With almost 65,000 users already, CyberSmarties offers an online social network that teaches positive online behaviour for children in primary schools. The site is completely locked down and is fully monitored.
AI recognises negative words and phrases like ‘ugly’ and ‘stupid’ and doesn’t allow them to be used against children. It also allows children to build their own profile, marking their interests, what school and class they’re in. They can also read kids news, watch kids TV shows, play games and learn to code. This all helps develop positivity online with other users. Since going live, there has been 0.0016% bullying instances found, which is very impressive. In the rare occasion where bullying does occur, it alerts a teacher so they can immediately intervene.
To help develop their coping skills when they get stressed or upset, every day the children are sent positive messages. They also get sent videos on nutrition and physical education to help understand their health and well-being as they grow up.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
We would all love to see our children out the back playing football and hanging out with their friends every day. But children are still growing up around technology and a lot have their faces buried in a screen all day every day. The great thing about CyberSmarties is their attitude towards children using technology. If they’re going to use it, we might as well build a safe and secure platform for them to be active on. We can also use the site to teach them new skills such as coding at a young age which can be highly beneficial in the future.
CyberSmarties offers a continuous stream of positivity to children in a world that can be very alien to some parents out there. It is a much better option then Facebook and Snapchat and other sites that they may not be mature enough for yet.
If you’re interested in finding out more about CyberSmarties, here is there website! Have a look for yourself and see what you make of it.
