KTMS Radio Commentary
It’s very common for any young person with
a camera phone to take a picture, even an innocuous one, with a friend, and
upload it to a Facebook page or post it on a site.
Parents may be unaware that every picture
taken by a cell phone now has a geo tag, which provides the exact
latitude and longitude where the picture was taken.
This means that anyone who means harm to
young people can see a picture online and find out exactly where the young
people are, just by the geo tag. That’s cause for great concern.
Our office is working in partnership with
District Attorney Joyce Dudley to be aggressive in the new battle lines against
cyber crimes and cyber bullying.
The incidents of bullying via text and
online sites is also mushrooming and can be devastating.
The best bet for parents is to pay
attention to how children respond to criticism — if they seem to have an
especially short fuse, and react quite badly to even mild criticism, it could
be a sign that they are experiencing cyber bullying and it is making them much
more sensitive to negative statements.
It’s also important to notice any changes
in a child’s behavior patterns, such as a good student not wanting to go to
school, or an outgoing child becoming withdrawn.
Most important of all, parents must monitor
their children’s Internet behaviors and make sure their children know not to
frequent the sites that are dangerous. We all have to work together in this
area because adults are truly playing catch-up.
