susan mclean

Helping Kids Online

Whose job is it to teach children about cyber-safety, online behaviour or digital citizenship? Parents seem to be waiting for schools to take the lead, whilst this is another area schools believe that parents have dropped the ball, and unfairly they’ll say, need to find time and resources to fit this into an already jam-packed [...]

Seeking answers on Ask.fm breeds bullying online for Australian teenagers

It is a website renowned for vicious and offensive postings with guaranteed anonymity, and yet teenagers are flocking to Ask.fm. Welcome to the new ground zero of cyberbullying for high school students. "Nothing surpasses Ask.fm at the moment for nastiness among students. Nothing," cyber safety expert Susan McLean said. - Cosima Marriner via Seeking answers on [...]

How to help teens with computer game addiction

90% of children play computer games. 10% of them are addicted. The dangers of computers games have been in the news again recently with the death of a teenager in Taiwan after playing for 40 hours straight without refreshments or leaving the computer. Internet computer games have and addictive dimension to them that some young [...]

Tips on how to protect young people from online grooming

The arrest and charging of a NSW teacher for engaging in sexually explicit conversations with a 14 year old girl in the USA has again brought to light the dangers of children ‘chatting’ to strangers online.  Online predators are experts at internet grooming and luring young people into compromising situations that they are not able [...]

Top tips for schools to combat cyber bullying

65% of year 4 students experienced covert bullying It seems ironic that a young student in the USA, Jessica Barba, was recently suspended for highlighting the dangers and traumas that many students struggle with when they become the targets of cyber bullying. What started out as a school assignment ended up as an online anti-bullying [...]

Sexting: 5 tips to keep teenagers safe

90% of 15 to 17 year olds own a mobile phone* Girlfriend magazine: 40% of girl readers had sent explicit photos Mental Health & Wellbeing of Young People seminar speaker and Cyber safety expert Susan McLean defines sexting as: the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between mobile phones, but can [...]

10 Resources to help kids who are bullied

In Australia one in six children are bullied at school each week. 90% of school children report witnessing others being bullied at school. Teachers rarely see bullying, and are often not told of what has happened. Produced by Wired Safety. Ken Rigby, author, research professor and a leading educational expert based at the University of [...]

Is your child an internet addict?

Although internet addiction is not yet a diagnosable illness, it is certainly raising concerns among adolescent experts who fear too much time online carries with it certain risk factors. For many young people the internet (and social media sites it gives them access to) is a lifeline. It is their way of connecting with the [...]

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