Earlier this year, the West Springs Cougar Ridge Community Association proudly presented Media and Cyberbullying Educator, Paul Davis for two in-person sessions at West Springs Church.
The first session, “Mothers and Daughters – Social Networking and Online Safety” brought awareness and understanding to the dangers and safety issues of online activity, especially for tween/teenage girls and their families.
The second session, “Networking and Online Safety”, was for parents only. Topics included Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Discord, smartphones, digital trails, cyberbullying, texting, image sharing, and online security. Paul Davis also graciously visited West Ridge School for an in-person student session where, according to West Ridge’s Principal he “hit it out of the park” with the students!
We were able to donate $420 from the registration proceeds to the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation to support their Emerging Adult Mental Health initiatives.
There were many take-away’s from Paul’s sessions including:
• Parents own their child’s phone until age 18 and are responsible for what is stored on that phone.
• After the age of 18, you can still be charged for photos that may be on your phone when you were a minor.
• Everything your child does online is being monitored – all apps create a digital portfolio of the user.
• Thinking something is deleted is a myth, especially when it comes to pictures and videos. Copies exist on the app’s servers.
• Friends are not found or made online. Stick only to talking to people you know.
• If your child is on Instagram, make sure there is nothing identifiable in their bio such as their last name and school they attend.
• Do not post photos on social media that are geo-tagged with a location.
• Always reduce photos to 620×460 pixels before uploading as they can’t be printed – will be too pixelated.
• Never share passwords with anyone.
• If your child has TikTok on their phone, make sure there is no payment information apps on the same phone (i.e. Google Pay, Apple Pay). TikTok is the most invasive app for mining data on its users and it should never be on the same device with personal data.
• If your child uses Snapchat, make sure the app is in ghost mode.
• Pictures and videos can be accesses from phones that are stolen and resold.
• If your child is on a Discord server, by default all users including those aged 13 to 17, can receive friend invitations from anyone in the same server, making it possible for minors to be contacted by people they do not know.
• If an objectionable photo is sent to your child, delete it. Mark down who sent it to you (first name, last name), time and date, and what platform it was sent on. If this becomes a criminal matter, Cybercrimes can bring back the photo.
• Absolutely no devices in children’s bedrooms, especially at night.
• Cultivating a positive relationship with your child is key so they feel they can come to you if something happens and there will be no judgment, shame, and embarrassment. Kids who are recruited, and/or groomed, are likely kids who feel disconnected from their parents.
If you have feedback/comments you would like to share about the presentation, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
