On Tuesday, the 24th of April, we had the privilege of welcoming Emma Sadleir, Africa’s leading expert on social media law, to Pretoria Boys High. Miss Sadleir is the founder of the Digital Law Company and she specialises in media law, privacy and online risk management.
Ms Sadlier holds a BA LLB from Wits and an LLM from London School of Economics and Political Science. As well as lecturing on social media law, reputation management and digital policies, she is also a frequent media commentator, covering, for example, the Oscar Pistorius trial for Carte Blanche and the BBC.
She is the co-author of Don’t Film Yourself Having Sex and Selfies, Sexts & Smartphones. Her latest book: How not to mess up online: A teenager’s guide…to not getting catfished, sued, arrested, cancelled or addicted is a perfect example of the type of education young people need OUTSIDE the classroom.
In a world that is saturated by social media, the dangers of using online platforms have become rife. She thus spends a large amount of time advising corporates, schools and universities on the issues of use and misuse of social media.
Miss Sadleir spoke to our boys about the real-world impact of what they post online – a powerful and necessary message in the digital age. The internet is forever. And although it has immense value and is essentially necessary to survive and thrive in the 21st century, one needs to be cognisant of what one posts at every corner of the information superhighway.
She spoke rather frankly to the boys, no-holds-barred, and her presentation thankfully lingered in the classrooms and corridors for a few days afterwards. Let’s hope that our teens take this advice to heart and ensure that their social media presence remains positive and pro-active.
