John Hayward Posted: 8 February 2011
Keywords: Science & Technology, Sex & Families,
I recently mentioned a local teenage girl who has attempted to commit suicide three times as a direct consequence of feeling humiliated after a former boyfriend made public a 'revealing' photo that she had given to him. Figures published by the charity Beatbullying last August revealed that almost two in five 11 to 17-year-olds has received a sexually explicit or distressing text or email and one in four has received an offensive sexual image.
Today a new ten-minute film aimed at 14 to 18 year olds is released in which a teenage girl, distressed after indecent images she sent to her boyfriend appear on the internet, warns young people to 'think before you send' sexy images of themselves to other people. The following is a short trailer for the film:
Supporting materials are available for teachers and trainers to download from the Thinkuknow website. Do spread the word to any parents or teachers that you know – and if you are a parent, why not make sure you are happy with the parent controls on all the internet-enabled devices that your child has access to in your home and their friends' homes, or even check out a free service such as OpenDNS to help keep your family safe online.
I believe that this is an issue that will not go away anytime soon. Many people are ignorant to the medium the internet has created for a new wave of bullying. Kids can be quite cruel sometimes, especially when they can hide behind a computer to terrorize another person. I write on blogaboutbullies.com and this is a topic I have been covering this week. There needs to be more education and resources available to the public. A huge gap exists between today's youth and many adults who's newest technological gadget is a cordless phone. I have suggested MouseMail to many parents that I have come in to contact with because it is proactive in scanning for possible threats in emails and texts that my child might receive. It is then directed to me before my child reaches it. Unfortunately I am unable to protect them from everything, and I am scared for those children who's parents have no idea about these types of technology.
Jay 8 June 2011