I just read a heart breaking newspaper article about a young girl named Hope Witsell in Florida who committed suicide after messaging a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked. The photo was dis...
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I just read a heart breaking newspaper article about a young girl named Hope Witsell in Florida who committed suicide after messaging a nude photo of herself to a boy she liked. The photo was distributed throughout her middle school and she was ostracized mercilessly by her peers and to a degree by the school system as well (at least in her eyes) in the way they handled the situation. The article can be found here: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/sexting-related-bullying-cited-in-hillsborough-teens-suicide/1054895 The article closes with some recommendations on how we as parents can attempt to prevent tragedies like this. Obviously, the most important thing is to be aware of our children's activities, not only relative to their use of the technology we provide them access to, but also remembering what we ourselves were like as children. If your child is caught "sexting", the emotional ramifications to him or her could be literally life threatening. I'm writing here because I intend to to approach Verizon and other cell carriers about initiating a more robust education or awareness campaign for their customer base. I ended up here because I came across the forums while searching for ways to contact Verizon corporate. I'm thinking little things like an educational blog or article discussing the phenomenon, and ways the service provider can make technology use by teens and children safer. Another possibility might be some sort of pop up or link on the shopping pages, or even tied to a devices' description if it includes a camera on responsible use and talking to your children before allowing them to use a messaging service. Anyway, this article affected me deeply and I'm hoping others will read it and pass on the link. Maybe we can make a difference by starting right here - post this message to various forums, copy the link and email it out, etc. Second, if anyone has more ideas on how cell phone providers can help their customers become more aware or conscious to the potential damage that can be done with the technology we put into our children's hands, please reply here and I'll incorporate it into the message I send to Verizon corporate and other cell providers.