Students sending pictures to other individuals? Do you monitor pictures your child sends?
Watch this news story about pictures of Indiana students on an explicit picture website!
Watch this news story about pictures of Indiana students on an explicit picture website!
Text, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook - Someone is finding pictures of students and posting them to a pornographic type website. If someone has sent a picture of themselves to a boyfriend or girlfriend, it is possible that the picture could be on this site.
Students today accept the digital world to be like the normal world. They struggle with the division between the real world and the digital world. "No one will know about what I said." Think about it! As I reflect upon high school, the issue was there but not digitally. How easy was it for a friend to share my secrets with others? EASY! So, how easy is it for students to share pictures of others? Really easy! No talking is needed. Just a click, tap and send!
Awareness it key! You Must Talk with your child about such behaviors.
1. Never send a picture you would not want posted on a billboard or school wall.
2. Think before you text! If you don't want others to hear about it, don't text it!
3. SnapChat seems innocent but screen shots are easy to take.
4. Facebook messages are not as private as you think. Anyone can hack into your account and gain those pictures.
5. Keep it Clean! Anything you post could be broadcasted for the world to see.
Why is this so important to discuss?
For more information about concerns, check out the Common Sense Media Parent Concerns Page at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/parent-concerns.
The Empowering Parents Website had some great tips to offer as well:
What Happens on the Internet, Stays on the Internet…and That’s Part of the Problem
Although the Internet may feel safe, anonymous and impermanent, actually the opposite is true. What teens don’t often realize is that what gets posted on the Internet, stays on the Internet. The younger generation, because they’ve grown up this way, is much more comfortable putting it out there. They’re creating their own sort of reality show about themselves on their sites.”
Tips for Parents:
Read more: http://www.empoweringparents.com/What-Teens-are-Really-Doing-Online.php#ixzz3Wj5ST781
Students today accept the digital world to be like the normal world. They struggle with the division between the real world and the digital world. "No one will know about what I said." Think about it! As I reflect upon high school, the issue was there but not digitally. How easy was it for a friend to share my secrets with others? EASY! So, how easy is it for students to share pictures of others? Really easy! No talking is needed. Just a click, tap and send!
Awareness it key! You Must Talk with your child about such behaviors.
1. Never send a picture you would not want posted on a billboard or school wall.
2. Think before you text! If you don't want others to hear about it, don't text it!
3. SnapChat seems innocent but screen shots are easy to take.
4. Facebook messages are not as private as you think. Anyone can hack into your account and gain those pictures.
5. Keep it Clean! Anything you post could be broadcasted for the world to see.
Why is this so important to discuss?
- Future Reputation
- Emotional Health
- College Acceptance
- Job Opportunities
For more information about concerns, check out the Common Sense Media Parent Concerns Page at https://www.commonsensemedia.org/parent-concerns.
The Empowering Parents Website had some great tips to offer as well:
What Happens on the Internet, Stays on the Internet…and That’s Part of the Problem
Although the Internet may feel safe, anonymous and impermanent, actually the opposite is true. What teens don’t often realize is that what gets posted on the Internet, stays on the Internet. The younger generation, because they’ve grown up this way, is much more comfortable putting it out there. They’re creating their own sort of reality show about themselves on their sites.”
Tips for Parents:
- Begin conversations about Internet safety as soon as you allow your kids on the Internet. You can use block filtering and monitoring for kids age 6-9 to prevent them from going on to a porn site, for example. But once kids are 12, 13, or 14, they know how to get around “Net Nanny” type programs and turn them off, and how to change browser history, so you need to have those conversations—the sooner, the better.
- Keep the computer in a central space in your house. (When your kids are working on something interesting, be sure to comment on that too.) “You need to understand the technology your child is using, and you need to set up ground rules,” says Dr. Kaplan. Night time is often where the planning of dangerous liaisons happens, when teens are online. “We probably see a kid a month here at McLean who has run away with someone they met online. The important thing is that none of this stuff—computers, cells, iphones—should be in their bedroom.” If you have a child who engages in risky behavior, insist on getting their passwords and “spot checking” their profiles. As a parent, you need to factor in your child’s personality and then decide how closely you will monitor their online activities.
- One way to have a conversation about social networking sites: You can ask your teen to help you set up your profile. “They’ll roll their eyes and act like they can’t believe how dumb you are, but they’ll be secretly pleased that you know they’re good at it,” says Goodstein. Click on privacy settings together and make sure your kids know how to set their default settings from public to private. “If you go on Facebook and find that you or your teen has set your profile to ‘public,’ that’s a great teachable moment. Then you can have the conversation: that the college recruiter can find it, future employers can look at it, anyone can see your profile.” Be sure to talk about what’s appropriate to post, and what’s not.
- People should never, under any circumstances, post personal information like social security numbers, telephone numbers or their address on a profile. This makes them easy targets for phishers, scammers and identity thieves.
- Don’t ever share passwords with anyone: not best friends, boyfriends or girlfriends. There have been cases where the relationship has gone sour and people have gotten revenge through a Myspace or Facebook profile, by posing as the person with whom they have a grudge.
- Let your kids know that the computer keeps a record of online exchanges and where they originate from on the hard drive—even though it looks as if the message “disappears.” Tell your child that they should use the same language online that they would in face-to-face communication. They should never say anything rash or threatening because the emails and instant messages can be downloaded and the child can get into real trouble.
- Teens need to know that they can’t assume everyone online is who they say they are. They should always report any inappropriate material or conversations immediately to their parents and to the social networking site.
Read more: http://www.empoweringparents.com/What-Teens-are-Really-Doing-Online.php#ixzz3Wj5ST781