Until Aisling’s son Kieran ran to her ashen faced and distressed, with his mobile phone in his hand, she had no idea her 12-year-old was using a social-media app against the rules.“He was completely traumatised. He told me he had been on Snapchat and people were threatening him and calling him a racist,” says Aisling, who asks that both their names be changed to protect her son’s privacy. Kieran showed her the unfolding exchanges, which she had the presence of mind to screenshot as she tried to find out what on earth was going on.She and his father thought they had outlined sufficient guidelines and conditions when giving him his first smartphone at the end of sixth class in preparation for going into secondary school. But at least having to admit he had gone against them didn’t stop Kieran telling Aisling about the horrible situation he found himself in.The online abuse went on and it went on and it went on. I actually feel sick even recalling it— AislingIt transpired that during weeks of conversing with various friends on the app, he had also joined a group formed by a collection of children from different primary schools who were all
Read More
'My 12-year-old son told me people were threatening him on Snapchat and calling him a …
