Filed under: Social Networking, Technology, Sexting
The college Spring Break spent on a beach in an exotic location has become almost a right of passage. Not everyone participates in the same way, but there is a stereotype of the college girls wearing their bikinis and the college boys strutting, both trying to vie for the other’s attention. Regardless of how you feel about this relatively new tradition, the game has changed dramatically by simply adding digital cameras and the Internet.
Just a few short years ago, a young person could do something they might or might not later regret, but there was no photographic evidence of it. There were no pictures nor videos of embarrassing situations to end up in a place where the entire world could see it at any point. More to the point, parents, future employers, and future spouses or even future children, would never see it. This is no longer true.
The question is how do we modify the behavior? We (educators, parents and advocates) talk about it constantly. Most of the time, if the people in these situations would think, just for a second, about possible consequences, a crisis can be averted.
We hope that this wouldn’t happen to our own kids, but someone’s kids are posing for these pictures. I talk a lot on this blog about a variety of ideas, but I am curious about your ideas.
How would you (or have you) talked to your teens and young adults about how to avoid these very embarrassing situations? What would you tell your 18 year old self if you had the chance? I may feature your tips in a future post.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
