Continue reading “Children sharing inappropriate images can have harmful consequences !!”
What is Sexting ?
This video is aimed at young children to teach them what can happen if they were to take or share an inappropriate image and how quick it can spread
This is a series of videos aimed at teens
This series of videos are aimed at parents who discover an image of their child has been shared
This week, it was revealed that Blennerville National School, near Tralee in Co Kerry, agreed with parents in the school, that it was time to put a ban on digital device access for students. There had been a number of incidents revolving around the access and sharing of inappropriate content and Cyberbullying. The ban on devices at home, is an 11-week pilot programme. What we would describe as a Digital Detox, only for the children in sixth class. This decision is similar to one we have been promoting in National Schools for some time now that children should never be given a ‘Smartphone’. We had been anxiously waiting to see a community who would come together and formulate a plan such as this in Ireland. A first step on this path has been publicly taken by a school and parents. We would hope that all parents would look with great interest upon it, and follow-up and try this themselves.
‘Sexting’, described as the sending of sexually explicit messages, through digital devices, primarily the mobile phone. A relatively new phenomenon, with the saturation of digital devices over the last few years there has been a marked increase in those who will openly admit sending in explicit or inappropriate image to another’s digital device of themselves. The concept can sometimes be difficult for adults to grasp that children might engage in this type of behaviour. However, a study released in 2016 showed that Irish teens were the fourth most prolific senders and receivers of ‘Sexts’ in Europe. Many young people see it as a normal behaviour as everyone is doing it.
By their very nature children will experiment, show me yours and I’ll show you mine, combine this with a latest trend of selfies, on top of the current negative celebrity role models who frequently post near and sometimes completely naked images of themselves, then you’re bound to have children who will not see the harm in Sexting. Children have been found to have sent ‘Sexts’ to people they only met online, they are Sexting boyfriends or girlfriends or potential companions. Some of the teenagers are sexting out of peer pressure. Many just do it for fun.
A number of Apps have also really contributed to the escalation in this type of behaviour among children and teens. Snapchat, which was openly referred to as a Sexting App has become incredibly popular with young users, despite the 13-year-old restriction. This App encourages the taking of Selfies and sharing of the images. What the App also leads the users to believe is that the image is deleted after a set time period. With this knowledge in mind children who are natural risk takers will undoubtedly engage in a behaviour if there is little or no chance that they will get caught.
What may seem as a bit of fun, taking a picture of their bum can quickly escalate and get out of hand. As there are Free Apps that can save an image to a device without the sender’s knowledge the receive may retain or worst case scenario forward the image to others. This can have a disastrous impact on the sender. Users fail to realise the gamble they take once they send an explicit, or inappropriate image.
There have also been instances where young children getting changed after a match taken and the image forwarded, can you imagine the impact that would have. Any image forwarded by can have a terribly negative effect on a person’s self-esteem, their reputation and may have deep psychological consequences for the victim.
Sexting has also given rise to Revenge Porn, this occurs when a consenting couple who have exchanged images while involved in a relationship break up and one of them decided to release the images to get back at the other. Again this can have an incredible negative impact on the victim.
Teens and young children who take, share or even have these types of images get a serious shock when they discover that the images are in fact illegal. The production, possession or distribution of images of a sexual nature of a child are considered Child Pornography in Ireland.
Some Advice for Parents
Also referred to as your online reputation, your Digital Footprint represents your interaction with technology. Every time an image, video or comments are posted, it impacts your digital footprint. People are perceived, the lives that they are living online. Presently children are posting images and information about themselves, at a younger and younger age. By the time a child is a teenager, much of the content they have created, will have well forgotten about. Think about your own activity online. Did you have a Social Media Account like MySpace or Bebo account? Can you remember every post that you created? What if someone was to judge you on content from 15 years ago?
The problem today is, a negative digital footprint can have disastrous implications for a any person. While children and teens do spend considerable time online, they can act and behave in ways that they never would in the real world. There is a complete disconnect between the real and online world. We see teens post inappropriate images of themselves and others. Children, teens and adults Cyberbully others online. We see some declare an open interest in crime or drugs, often without realising the real world implications for posting this content. Both adults and children have fallen victim to being reckless online. Adults are lose jobs. Children and teens are suspended and expelled almost daily, from schools and colleges due to content being put online.
Many third level institutions and employers have their own Social Media and Online Acceptable Use Policy. When students apply for colleges or employment, people look in to the online lives of applicants. This obviously will give a far better indication of the character of an individual, than a traditional C.V. However, the real world individual and the online persona with a negative digital footprint can be completely different. The unfortunate truth is the online persona can really negatively impact the real world persons prospective chances for college and employment.
Both parents and children need to understand the importance of their own Digital Footprint. It can be forever. The permanence of the Digital World may result in information generated, can be extremely difficult to remove. This may have seriously long-lasting ramifications.