EVENING HERALD FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2010 13

NEWS

PORTRAIT: The picture of Pearse House’s Tadhg and Aaron defying their concretesurroundings to enjoy the Dublin sunshine now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery

FROM PEARSE STREET TOPALACEGALLERY ... DUBLINBEACH BOYSMAKE IT BIGTHIS picture of two inner city Dublin boys isto feature in a London gallery alongsideimages of PrincesWilliam andHarry.A photo taken of Tadhg Benson and Aaron

Donoghue from Pearse House has beenplaced in the National Portrait Gallery inLondon.The photograph, entitled Beach Boys, was

taken by Rathfarnam-based photographerJeanette Lowe.Speaking to theHerald from London

where the exhibition opens this week, MsLowe said she was “thrilled” that thephotograph was accepted.The idea of doing a photography project

on Pearse House came toMs Lowe because ofher family connections with the place.“My grandmother was rehoused to Pearse

House and she raised a large familyincludingmymother there. I hadn't beenthere in years since the death of mygrandmother 30 years ago but I wanted tocapture the history of the place.”She says that she had been taking pictures

one day last June when she came across thetwo youngsters with their towels on their

way to the beach.“I love the contrast of their energy

compared with the stairs and now it's a nicestory of it ending up in London,” she said.This photograph was one of 60 accepted

for the exhibition from a total of 6,000submitted by over 2,000 photographersworldwide.“I've only realised how prestigious this

gallery is now that I am here. I love the ideathat these two boys are now hanging a flooraway from the queen and a few rooms awayfrom portraits of PrinceWilliam and PrinceHarry,” Ms Lowe said.She went on to say that she had since

spoken to the two boys, who were sevenyears old at the time of the photo beingtaken.“I expected them to be these big lads now

but they are still small boys. They arethrilled about the photo being in the galleryand the parents are delighted,” she said.The exhibition will run until February 20,

2011.

–MAEVE GALVIN

Facebookusers‘post toomuchpersonal detail’By Kevin Doyle

BIG BROTHERdoesn't need towatch anymore because peopleare openly posting potentiallydamaging information onFacebook.The social networking site is

now being routinely used byemployers to scout workersleading psychologists to warnthat the “honeymoon is over”.More than 500million people

use the site to share pictures,messages and video links withfriends – but they are nowbeingadvised that it is “not aboutplaytime anymore”.Dublin Business School psy-

chologist Dr Ciaran McMahonhas carried out a review of dataon the site which found thatmost users need to rethink theirnetworking habits.He discovered that profes-

sionals are throwing caution tothe wind and should be payingmore attention towhat they arewriting about online as it canhave a direct impact on theirrelationship with clients.The warning comes as a new

tool has been created to pre-vent people fromposting drunk-en late-night messages.The Social Media Sobriety

Test requires users to perform aseries of online co-ordinationtests before allowing them topost messages or photos thatthey may later regret.Dr McMahon's study found

men were more careless thanwomen.Men pay less attentionto their privacy settings and aremore open about sharing infor-mation that has the potential toreflect badly on them.

SEXThe content posted bymen caninclude details relating to drugs,alcohol consumption and theirsex lives, whereaswomenmost-ly use the site to maintain rela-tionships with friends.Dr McMahon said many

social networking sites “accu-rately reflect personalities” andhave therefore become a “scien-tifically justified” research toolfor potential employers. Hecalled it a “nightmare scenario”.Facebook can also tell a lot

about a person's psychologicalstate.

“The constant updating ofstatus, the constant uploadingof photos and the need to joinlarge numbers can reflect highlevels of narcissism or lowself-esteem.“Youwill find a narcissist will

have lots of pictures of them-selves while the person withthe lower self-esteem willhave lots of pictures of otherpeople,” said Dr McMahon.However, the warning coin-

cides with the launch of thenew tool that should help stopsome unsuitable informationfrom making its way online.The safety switch can be

used on Facebook and othersocial networking sites, includ-ing MySpace, Flickr andYouTube.Users will be able to protect

themselves with the tool bychoosing which sites to blockand selecting the hours theyconsider themselves most atrisk from drunken decisions.Access to the sites during

these hourswill require the userpassing a randomly-selectedsobriety test such as draggingthe mouse in a straight line ortyping the alphabet backwards.

kdoyle@herald.ie