Communication

Developing healthy, open communication with our children and teens.

Sexting is Still the Rage Among Teens
12/15/2009

I came across a new article today from CNN which reports "Nearly one-sixth of teens who own cell phones have received nude or nearly nude images via text message from someone they know." This is the phenomenon known as sexting. Here are a few items of interest from the article. First, "teens whose parents searched through their cell phones were no more or less likely to send and receive sexually explicit text messages than those whose phones were kept private," and also "boys and girls surveyed were equally likely to say they engage in sexting."

So it doesn't matter if your teen is male or female and it doesn't matter how tightly you, as a parent, regulate control over the device.

That's not encouraging.

Part of the solution, I believe, is communication. In fact, an 18 year old named Avery has this to say in the article:

Avery suggested parents talk to their teens about appropriate cell phone use when their kids first get cell phones. But don't overdo it, she said, because teens generally understand the dangers of sexting.

"Parents think it's happening more than it actually is," she said. "It's not seen as very normal by teenagers."

FULL ARTICLE:
CNN - Survey: 15 percent of teens get sexual text messages

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Parents Experience Fear, Naivetˇ and Defeat
11/13/2009

I came across this article by Rhett Smith, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate based out of Texas. He describes some observations about the emotions that parents go through when it comes to technology, social media, and their children. Making the list is fear, naivetˇ and defeat.

I think most of us can relate to those feelings whether technology is involved or not! Raising children invites a host of emotions. But he didn't stop there, he also explored why he thinks our kids, and especially teenagers, are attracted to technology and social media.

As a parent, I want to understand this and I think you should too. Take a look.

FULL ARTICLE
Providing Understanding for ParentÕs Experiences Around Their Kids and Technology

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Not Just Kids, But Seniors Too
7/30/2009

Found this interesting about how parents have to teach internet safety to their parents now! Check it out.

"The fastest growing demographic group on Facebook are women over the age of 55," said Debra Berlyn, who runs the Consumer Privacy Awareness Project.

She says the same sort of protections that we always talk about with kids and computers also apply to older adults who go online.

"Our parents today are helping their kids with online safety but they also have to help their parents with online safety," she said. "They're sort of the digital sandwich generation so they're helping their kids and they can also help their parents. If you're older and you're online for the first time, ask your son or daughter to help you figure some of this stuff out."

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Microsoft Responds To Bing Concerns, Falls Flat
6/11/2009

An article in InformationWeek discusses Microsoft's response to the concerns about its new search engine, Bing.com. They are basically still ignoring home users, but they have provided a hack workaround to keep SafeSearch in strict mode for all computers on a corporate network.

Microsoft also has added a tool that lets network managers enforce the SafeSearch mode at the network level. Add "&adlt=strict" to the end of a query "and no matter what the settings are for that session, it will return results as if SafeSearch was set to strict," said Nichols.

I can understand why they would want to fix this. Corporations use server-side web content filters in order to protect themselves from sexual harassment type lawsuits. Where I work, most political sites are also blocked. These sorts of policies help keep the peace.

Nichols said Microsoft may introduce some other tools that help Bing users block explicit content. "We think our current search safety settings are solid, but at Microsoft we are always working on pushing this stuff farther," said Nichols.

I don't think Microsoft necessarily wants to please everybody. They know they need an edge in the marketplace, and I don't blame them. My hope is that a decision-maker there realizes that being considered a trusted, family-friendly resource could be just the edge they're looking for.

FULL ARTICLE
http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/search/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217800550

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Vermont: Child Porn Legal For Some, Not Others
4/15/2009

This is a controversial subject.

"Sexting" is the term used to describe when teenagers exchange explicit photos of themselves. Call it what you will, but naked kid pics sounds like the definition of child porn to me. Sexting is illegal in this country and offenders are usually prosecuted under the same laws that prevent adults from creating, distributing, or possessing child pornography.

Some lawmakers in Vermont want to change this. They want to make it legal for teens 18 and under to create and share explicit photos of themselves.

I'm a bit confused as to their logic and the article isn't very helpful in that regard. Maybe they have a good reason but I just can't see how removing consequences solves the root problem. It appears to encourage it instead! Change the consequences to fit the crime or scale the consequences to fit the mental capacity of the perpetrator. These things make sense to me. But a blanket legalization? Please.

Another title for this blog post could be "Teens To Be Further Victimized By Vermont Lawmakers, Each Other".

Our kids are doing this stuff often or lawmakers wouldn't be bothered about it. One statistic from the article said that 18% of female students nationwide have tried sexting. Is your daughter one of them? Stop and think about that a minute. 2 out of 10 girls.

Time's ticking. Get involved.

FULL ARTICLE:
http://wcbstv.com/technology/sexting.vermont.teens.2.983956.html

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