Picture this: a teenage girl sends a provocative picture of herself to her boyfriend. Obviously not wanting her parents to see it, she sends the picture in a private message online.
Since the message is between the two of them, it seems harmless. Nothing more than two hormone-crazed teenagers showing their affection.
But before hitting ‘send,’ there are a number of things the underage teen never considered.
What if her boyfriend accidentally leaves his account logged in and someone else sees it?
What if they break up and her boyfriend uses the picture against her?
What if years later, when the girl is in her adult years, the picture re-surfaces, causing her insurmountable grief and embarrassment?
What if authorities find the photograph and charge her and her boyfriend with possession of child pornography – a criminal record that will haunt them for life.
The likelihood of any of this happening may seem small, but the reality is all the possible outcomes have happened.
“This is not just kids doing inappropriate things on the computer,” said Kathy Szoboticsanec, RCMP school liaison officer. “It’s serious offences.”
Since virtually every teen is plugged into some form of social networking (whether it be Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or e-mailing and texting), it is the focus of an upcoming workshop in Vernon.
Vernon Secondary School will host a presentation called How Social Networking is Exploiting our Youth, Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Prevention, intervention and enforcement will be discussed by Tracy Williams, Family Resource Centre children’s counsellor; Rachael Zubick, co-ordinator of the RCMP’s Community Policing Office and Safe Communities Unit; and Szoboticsanec.
The trio are hoping, with the help of parents and other educators, they can impress upon youth the importance of protecting themselves online.
“Kids don’t get it,” said Szoboticsanec, as teens rarely sensor themselves while posting attacking messages to peers online or pictures of themselves at parties which could come back to haunt them.
Posting something on the Internet is like publishing it in the newspaper – once it’s printed it can never be deleted.
Therefore Zubick warns: “One bad decision can ruin the rest of your life. You’ve got to treat the Internet just like you are out in public.”
The effects of social media can also be devastating to individuals, according to Williams, causing depression, withdrawal, substance abuse and even suicide.
“There’s a variety of effects that can be harmful to their identity and self-esteem.”
Since the Internet and texting allow someone to hide behind a screen, they may do or say things to others that they wouldn’t otherwise do or say in person.
“I have dealt with kids who are using social networking to bully kids,” said Williams.
Whether it’s a revenge post against a so-called friend, tagging a picture of an underage youth drinking at a party or an inappropriate text, youth often give little thought before pressing ‘send.’
The trio encourage parents to educate their kids about the potential dangers and outcomes on the internet.
“We’re not going to be able to take it away,” said Zubick. “You have to have the discussion.”
With the world at their fingertips, the Internet opens the door to all sort of potential, both good and bad.
And with it, Zubick says: “We’ve lost our ability to give our kids parameters.”
She urges parents to take their authority and enforcement back and repeat it as often as necessary. Just as parents repeatedly tell young toddlers not to touch a hot stove, warnings about the internet are, “no different than any other safety message we make with our kids.”
But setting guidelines and rules is just one step.
Both youth and parents also need to know how to protect themselves from outside predators by increasing their online security.
Check security settings on your computer as well as sites such as Facebook, don’t leave accounts logged in or cellphones where others can access them and turn off and unplug your computer at night.
“Most adults wouldn’t know that I can turn on your webcam from outside,” said Zubick, who also warns about geo-tagging, where photos tagged with a location, make it easy for someone to track exactly where a picture was taken.
