Sharon Keogan: Parents Must Step Up on Social Media

Thank you, and you're all doing absolutely brilliant, I have to say, so well done to you all. By the way, I absolutely love this project that you did in relation to the film and all the topics that you covered on it, and I think you could do more of that throughout the country, so well done to all involved in that. It's fantastic to have Faroge here and Yap. I'm aware of all the work that you do, both for communities and for young people throughout the country, so it's a marvellous service what you do in relation to app, and it's not just about the online stuff you do, you do practical activities on a daily basis with good mentors, so continued good work to all of you. Just I want to ask you, who would your top two media influencers be? I want to ask you all of that. Who are your top two media influence that you follow online? Shanika, we'll start with you. I only have one, and it's Sailors Matter. Who? Sailors Matter. Okay, Luke? One would be a history YouTube channel called Oversimplified. Okay. Be my favourite. Joe Bartolozzi. Okay, and Caitlyn? I personally like this influencer called Spencer Barbrosa, she promotes body positivity and positive messages like that specifically for young women. Okay, Luke? Or Noah? To be honest, I have no idea. You don't have a famous influencer? I would say that like in general, I probably do follow influencers, but to just pick one off the top of my head, I wouldn't really know. What influencers do you follow? Probably Cristiano Ronaldo. Okay. I think that's a pretty obvious one for young lads. But I just think messages that he puts across and stuff is important for young people, like showing that discipline and stuff, and I think that can definitely be carried into TikTok, being able to not just keep scrolling. And Amber? And Mia? If you're comfortable, girls. I agree with what Caitlyn said. Spencer, she's really good. She promotes a lot of body positivity and makes girls feel more comfortable in their body because on social media, you tend to compare yourself to what you see online. And I think she just kind of shuts that down and make girls feel way more comfortable. Amber? Yeah, Spencer Barbosa. I've seen her videos and it's all like her body and then it's like her making awareness about it and putting comments out. And then Shanice Griffin, she's from Dublin and there was a girl online who was getting bullied for posting videos and she made sure to put awareness out about it and she sent her like GIFs and everything and she stopped it and now that girl is now getting more views and not as much hate anymore. Right, good. So what do you think could be done to get children off social media and back into the real world activities? What would you suggest that could be done? Okay, Caitlyn? I think that personally, like a contributor to young people being addicted to that social media is like a parent example, because I know in my house I try and make it like a rule that there's no phones at the dinner table, because that's like a time where you talk and interact with your family or like with friends at lunch. I would do my best and like try and advise my friends as well to not be on their phone unless it's necessary when you're talking to someone because it's just not, that's the time for phones down really. Charlie? I think encouraging them to get involved in anything, sports, youth groups like Choral and OGUE, just any way you can get kids outside and interacting off of social media is the best way. Luke, what do you think would be? I have to agree with Charlie for Choral and OGUE, youth groups are great but not everyone will even know that they exist. I only knew because I did a school program and a man came in with a sign-up sheet, he told me what it was and I went, yeah, that sounds like it should be for me. Very good. And Mia, what do you think could be done? I'm not really sure to be honest. I think that it is a lot to do with what parents do and parents should set an example and if your child is misbehaving you shouldn't just shove a screen in their face to make them deregulate. I think you should talk to them and not just rely on screens most of the time for children. Clearly a lot of stepping up by parenting needs to be done in the country.