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ON Sunday night I watched The Late Late Show that I had Sky+ or as I still say “recorded” I had heard from lots of people that it was a good show and that the Kerry football legend Pat Spillane gave a great interview.
Well that he did, and it was quite upsetting to see him so sad about the immigration of his eldest daughter Cara. It showed a much softer side to the man that we all love to see in a head to head battle with Joe Brolly on a Sunday night.
The scourge of immigration effects every generation and tears families apart. We usually see the poignant airport scenes and the Facebook videos involving the Mammy of the house so it quite refreshing to see and hear Pat talking about his upset of waving his young girl goodbye as she starts a new life in Dubai.
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The upset was etched on his face as it was all still very raw, he had only dropped his girl at Dublin airport hours earlier.
Also on the show there was a wonderfully articulate young man called Conor Doyle. Conor for me, stole the show. If you haven’t seen it I suggest you take a look on RTE player. Conor was subjected to horrendous cyber bullying after his photo appeared on a website.
At the time he was very overweight and the keyboard warriors had a field day. There were hurtful and hateful comments from cowards who hide behind the comfort of their computer screen.
Thankfully Conor was strong enough to talk to family and friends about the pain that these imbeciles put him through. He has since given talks in schools telling kids that they too should talk to someone if they experience any type of cyber bullying.
He also warned of the perils of clicking the “like” button on pictures of people you don’t know but who may be an innocent victim. Imagine a poor child watching the “likes” mount up and think that everyone in the world is laughing at them.
It certainly gave me food for thought. Conor revealed to the audience that he has been provisionally accepted to study law at Oxford on completion of his leaving cert.
He admitted that since the picture appeared on the Facebook page, he became motivated to lose the excess weight so now he has trimmed down to a healthy size and is looking forward to his future.
Conor’s story is a feelgood story where the bullied conquers the bullies but it got me thinking about the misfortunate teenagers who are too weak to do the same.
There have been many high profile suicides of young people who are the victims of cyber bullying. Only last week I read of a guy in Dublin who for some bizarre reason has gained the trust of young girls who in turn have sent him nude and semi-nude photos that he has shared with lots of his friends.
This guy has 20,000 followers on his page and when he feels the heat, he sets up another page under a different name. There is no doubt that there are many dangers of social media, but I think with people like Conor Doyle speaking out, it makes parents aware of the perils that their children may encounter.
I don’t believe that any child under twelve should be on Facebook or Twitter but maybe then I’m old fashioned. They just fill in their details giving a false year of birth and hey presto.
Kids have enough to keep them entertained besides entering the dodgy world that their young minds may not be able to digest. Snapchat seems to be the social media of choice for the younger kids. God be with the days when you passed notes in class to tell your deepest darkest secrets
to your best friend.
News that could not possibly wait until after the bell. Your biggest fear those days was that the teacher would catch you. Ah the memories…
Until next week,
Be kind!
Orlagh xx
