By Samantha Craggs, CBC News
Posted: Nov 9, 2012 7:03 AM ET
Last Updated: Nov 9, 2012 7:02 AM ET
Parents should be educating their kids on how to use cellphones, namely the consequences of using them to send naked pictures of themselves, a Hamilton Police Service officer says.
In a presentation Thursday evening, Const. Claus Wagner told parents to warn their teens of the perils of sexting.
"You have to make sure you say to the child 'If I see inappropriate things, (the phone) is going to be taken away from you,'" said Wagner, who made the presentation as part of Crime Prevention Week. "They need to understand that every action has a consequence."
Sexting exists in Hamilton, Wagner said. While on patrol, he has investigated cases involving sexting.
Youth should be aware that distributing a naked picture of someone younger than 18 constitutes possessing or distributing child pornography and is punishable by law, he said. But even more, a person's reputation could be at risk.
Sexting "can really come back to haunt you," he said.
Parental warnings are playing a part in making society as a whole elevate above sexting, said Alex Sevigny, a McMaster University associate professor of communications.
'Facebook hygiene'
When Facebook started, people posted incriminating photos of themselves without realizing the damage. Now nearly everyone understands the damage of recklessly using it, said Sevigny, who calls this careful new attitude "Facebook hygiene."
That change is happening with the sexting phenomenon too, he said. Much as people have learned "Facebook hygiene," the same has to happen with smartphones.
"It'll take a couple more years," he said. "Parents have to wrap their heads around this phenomenon."
There is no data for how often sexting happens, and any attempts to study it would produce data that was "notoriously unreliable," he said.
"It's this weird thing where everyone thinks that everyone else is doing it, but you can't actually check."
While education is good, Paul Rapoport, a retired Hamilton professor and member of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, discourages widespread alarm. He speculates that sexting is not as common as people think it is.
'Harsh attitude' discouraged
"Alarmist warnings about sexting both reflect and promote a moral panic over children's nudity that's supposed to help them but does the opposite," he wrote in a Toronto Star editorial in December.
"They disrupt lives and increase anxiety, already prevalent in teens, in shaming them about their bodies," he wrote.
Any sexting punishment should involve a conversation with the youths involved, Rapoport told CBC Hamilton.
"It's important to find out what the people involved actually have to say, and you have to ask them in a respectful context," he said. "I'm afraid many times harsh attitude is not one that results in protection but results in the exact opposite."
Sevigny encourages parents to teach their kids "smartphone hygiene" — a respectful conversation about the potential future consequences of baring all with a cellphone.
"It's like anything. If you give your kid a chainsaw, you warn them that they can cut their leg off with it," he said. "If you give them a smartphone, you have to tell them how to use it safely."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Hamilton parents should warn kids of 'sexting': police
Dengan url
http://hemiltoninfo.blogspot.com/2012/11/hamilton-parents-should-warn-kids-of.html?m=0
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Hamilton parents should warn kids of 'sexting': police
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Hamilton parents should warn kids of 'sexting': police
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar