Birr parents given advice about smartphone threats

A LARGE group of parents were given some excellent bits of advice about how to deal with the threats posed by smartphones, during a talk by a leading psychologist in St Brendan's Community School recently.
Dr Maureen Griffin is a leading expert of many years' standing in this vast and complex field and as she steered the parents through this sometimes frightening, potentially dangerous, digital world, she urged them to be cautious, yes, but don't succumb to fear.
Prior to her evening talk with the parents Dr Griffin spent the whole day with the students of the school, giving them advice and warnings about the threats in the digital world.
Many of the students afterwards said it had been a very worthwhile day and they were very grateful to the psychologist for her insights.
At the end of the day, Dr Griffin asked the students to write down the fondest memory from their lives. Movingly, only one child said the fondest memory was related to their phone. All the other children referred to the memories which have been cherished by all children since time immemorial, including spending time with their family, spending time with their pets, and engaging in sporting activities.
Dr Griffin told the parents later on that she has lectured in 900 schools and she has learned that most of the problems arising from pupils' interaction with the digital world arise in the second year of secondary school. She didn't specify why this was, but it's probably because it's a threshold year in terms of physical development and maturation.
She praised the school. She said she liked its sign “Respect”, “and I received much respect from the kids. They are a credit to you all.”
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