Cybersafe wristband goes nationwide

Students who developed a wristband to help teenagers combat cyberbullying as part of a schools enterprise project have taken their product nationwide.

Orders have been flooding in from schools around the country for the Cybersafe wristband, developed by a team of transition-year students at Bishopstown Community School in Cork City.

It has a built-in USB keyfob pre-loaded with guidelines and tools to help students record incidents of online bullying.

It gives step-by-step instructions on how to take a screenshot of a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to capture evidence of offensive posts.

It gives advice on how to deal with, and report incidents of online bullying; how to block people on social media platforms; and it tells the person experiencing the bullying that they have done nothing wrong.

It is hoped the peer-to-peer approach will put the power to tackle cyberbullying back in the hands of the teenagers themselves, and that wearing the wristbands will foster a culture of peer support.

While the mini-company project has ended, the students have decided to continue the campaign and have partnered with the ISPCC to donate profits from the ongoing sale of the wristbands to the children’s charity.

“We are delighted with the success of the product and have decided to keep it going now as a campaign,” the school’s transition year co-ordinator Alan White said. “We have also managed to negotiate a price reduction for the wristbands from €5 to €3.”

He praised students Shonagh Barrett, 15, and Stephen Conlon, 16, as the driving forces behind the company, which won the Cork City Enterprise Board’s Schools Enterprise Programme’s regional award last year.

The cash prize helped drive the marketing of the device, pushing sales close to the 2,000-unit mark.

“We sold the wristbands to schools in Kerry, Waterford, and Tipperary, and word is slowly spreading about what we are doing,” Mr White said.

They are now getting inquiries from schools in Galway, Donegal, and Offaly.

Meanwhile, the Cork City Enterprise Board has launched this year’s programme. Acting chief executive Adrienne Rodgers said it is designed to “foster a spirit of entrepreneurship from a young age”.

“Students who enter our award categories will go through the full processes involved in setting up their own business with the guidance of successful entrepreneurs and key business people,” she said.

“This year’s new categories are not limited to transition-year students but are open to all years and demonstrate how the programme is evolving to suit and cater for a new generation of students.”

* www.studententerprise.ie

* Find out more about the wristband at cybersafe.ie or place an order by emailing [e-mail]