Romana

The Anchor Boys Club organized a series of monthly sessions to familiarize parents with the new means of communication used by their children. The sessions dealt with the educational potential and the risks involved in these new media.

In the first meeting, Luison Lassala, the director of Anchor and an information technology consultant, spoke about the social implications of communication via the Internet. In Ireland, web pages such as Bebo, MN or YouTube, which parents generally know little about, form part of the daily life of most young people. The first class introduced parents to the new technologies and shared some practical ideas on how to help their children to use them prudently.

Ed Kellett, a teacher at Rockbrook Park School, gave a conference on video games. He spoke about some habits and attitudes found in young people who abuse these games and encouraged parents to exert some control over the time their children spend in front of the console or computer, as well as over the type of video games they buy or rent.

The final talk was by Donal O’Sullivan, a member of the Family & Media Association. He spoke on telenovels and other television formats (MTV, reality programs, etc.). He urged parents to contact the Media Broadcast Commission (a commission charged with regulating the various communications media) if they felt their children were being exposed to inappropriate content on television or on the radio.