Internet usage by children seems to have increased lately as well as their usage of cell phones.While when cell phones first came out they were not typically in the hands of children, now many have their own phones and some are using it to gossip as well as for sexting and bullying.
Bullying has changed since some of us were in school. Before it was the teasing and name calling in the schoolyard; now it's grown to messages on social messaging sites and internet videos, et cetera.
Notre Dame School in New Hyde Park recently had a presentation about cyberbullying. During that discussion Jill Brown, founder of bullying prevention group Generation Text, explained to the children the consequences of cyberbullying and sexting.
"If you send a picture of your naked body part or forward it to people, you will be charged with harassment, which is jail time and a big fine," she said. "If there is a video of a sexual act, that’s child pornography and if you send that video to somebody…you could be charged with possession or distribution [if forwarded to somebody], which is jail time and being a registered sex offender; something that happens for life.”
Given the effects of bullying on the internet and sexting, how do you best guard your children from experiencing this?
