At ME we believe that we can all be empowered to respond in a positive way to any possible harmful situation. In order to to so we all need education to become informed, tools to enable us to respond appropriately, a support network to help us along the way and the confidence and resilience to keep going when things are tough. ME will help you connect with yourself and you can tailor your response as you see fit.
We need a way to balance life with tech in it. A parent wants to ensure their children are safe. Children and young people want to explore and experience their world and feel supported while the do so. When you use ME both can be achieved.
ME is at demo stage right now and below is an example of how ME works. NB: Anxiety is used in the educational section as an example but other topics (eg bullying, racism etc…) will be included in time.
User case
1
Sophie is 12, lives in Ennis and has just got her first phone as a birthday present. She sets up the phone and as part of the setup, she has to engage with ‘ME’. She enters her details and based on her age ‘ME’ will generate the education that Sophie will need to know as she progresses through her social media platforms. (example – anxiety)
2
ME will present age appropriate education and present it through infographics and illustrations. This is merely an example of what kind of topics will be covered in the education
3
Sophie will be asked to select a number of interests and based on that info the app will generate a list of pro-social activities (in her locality) and apps that she may engage in when she needs/wants to build her confidence and resilience.
4
This will be displayed in map view within the app.
5
This can also be displayed in list view within the app.
6
Sophie will then be asked to create a ‘safe list’ which will be friends and family that she trusts and has a real life connection with. Sophie can call on these people if and when she finds herself struggling and needs help or support. Sophie now feels confident that she is informed and has the tools to keep herself safe while using social media.
7
A week after that Sophie is getting unwanted texts from a person she doesn’t know. She is anxious about this. One evening she gets a prompt from the ME app that asks her how she is feeling. She says poor.
8
she is brought to her educational page and is given the options to:
1) Take a break (engage with a pro-social app eg music, meditation etc).
2)Connect with someone eg call or text a person on her safe list or
3) to build her confidence and resilience by doing a pro-social activity in her locality eg go swimming on Saturday.
9
Remember, Sophie has already engaged with the education provided and is mindful that the feelings she is experiencing can be described as being anxious.
10
It’s 7pm so she decides to call her friend Laura. She selects the connect option and is brought to her safe list. ME asks her if she would like to send an sms to Robin which says ‘I’m not ok, can you call me’ Sophie sends the message and Robin calls a few minutes later.
11
They chat and make a plan to go to the play on Saturday. Sophie feels so much better. She knows that she cannot control other people’s behavior so she decides to respond by making a plan. She blocked the person that was texting her, connected with a friend and made a plan to do something positive. Sophie also has the option of linking in with a professional support service of medical professional. Links are also provided on the ME app
12
Once Sophie is happy with the plan she has made with Laura, she decides that it would be a good idea to do something positive in the moment. She goes to the ‘take a break’ page once again where she can choose from a range of apps that are deemed to be positive for her mental health. Laura chooses to listen to some music through a music app.
13
ME also provides links to professional and community frontline services if Sophie needs more support.