A leading mental health organisation has partnered with Bunbury Primary School’s P and C to help children and parents become cyber-scare aware.
Headspace Bunbury and the school will hold two free screenings of ‘Screenagers’, a documentary looking at the impact of ‘tech-time’ on children and youth.
The events will be held at the Water’s Edge Cafe on Thursday, October 19 and Friday, October 20.
An alternate screening/parent information night will also be held at Grand Cinemas on Monday, October 16 at 6.15pm.
YSafe cyber security specialist Jordan Foster will be part of the Q and As held after the screenings. Ms Foster will also be making presentations at schools in the region during the month.
Headspace community engagement officer Penny McCall said hey had been inundated with requests since making the announcement.
She said it was important for youth and parents to be on the same page about online safety and screen time.
“It’s taking care of yourself; knowing where to send things, what to post, who can really see what and how to protect yourself, also for issues of cyber bullying and things like that and how to it can impact,” she said.
Ms McCall said Headspace regularly discussed cyber-bullying and online security with members of the public between 12 and 25 years old.
Bunbury Primary School P and C representative Kelly Gaffney said the P and C was approached by one of the parents concerned about cyberspace issues.
She noted it was important for children of all ages to be aware of how cyber-security and screen time can impact young people.
Ms Gaffney added the dopamine hit children received when looking at a screen had a similar effect to ingesting addictive substances.
Parenting Connections and the City of Bunbury provided funding for Headspace and the school to hold the sessions.
According to Headspace, Physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston made Screenagers after finding it difficult to decide on how often her kids should be exposed to screens and social media on top of online homework.
