22 Oct 2011
Tagged
This short film commissioned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority for its "Cybersmart" campaign, is really very good.
It's tragic that it needs to be made, mind you, but it gets its point across very well.
Tagged is about a group of girls who blog images, and then a film, in order to incriminate a school boy 'because he deserves everything he gets'. Of course it all spirals madly out of control - as these things do, and the consequences are far reaching and long lasting.
Will these kids be 'tagged' for ever?
The film is not for young children. The language and behaviour of these teens is frankly shocking to me at home in my 'bubble', but it is still well worth watching. On many levels.
Take a look.
Have a browse also at the Cybersmart website. There are tabs for kids of all ages, and lots of the points are relevant even to Jemimah. I'm going to have a chat with her about some of them today.
So far, I haven't allowed my nine-year-old to 'chat' online with people she doesn't know - even within the relatively safe confines of children's gaming sites. She can't 'add friends' either. I think her on-line experiences are safe. I hope they are!
What do you do? Where do you draw the line? The world is changing, and Cyberspace will surely be a far bigger part of our children's lives than it is of ours. I don't want Jemimah to be left behind, but nor do I ever want her to experience the kinds of consequences that are depicted so realistically in Tagged.
Tell me what you think.
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Jeanne, are you power blogging at the moment?!!
ReplyDeleteI came back to comment on this clip which I watched earlier and you have already posted again! (Note to self: Come on girl, you have got to get with the program!)
That clip was disturbing although similar to what we are hearing in the news these days.
I would say, keep the limitations on J. while you are able.
As you know, we let S1 have FB when he was 13. We did that with some quite strict rules about who he can friend etc and warnings about clicking on dubious or unknown links. We insist that his page is open for Dad and I to read. Also he has family friends and relatives as friends, including your lovely self :-) which we have encouraged as a hopeful deterent to "silliness".
Even having all of that, and vetting the friend requests, I have had him hide a few people's status, as I also do, if they use rude, crude or blasphemous language. Sadly, this has included young relatives :-( though I am sometimes shocked at comments my friends from "the old days" put up.
All this technology is such a wonderful educational and communicational tool. We have to train the young ones to use it wisely and I guess that starts with us using it wisely.
Have a lovely weekend y'all.
"he language and behaviour of these teens is frankly shocking to me at home in my 'bubble', but it is still well worth watching. On many levels." Sadly, I doubt I'd even flinch after the last two years in public schools... or the 20+ years I spent working for very uncivil civil attorneys! I'll watch this. Revenge is almost a virtue to some of these kids.
ReplyDeleteParents: be aware that you kid (who? Not MY child!) could and likely will set up an "alter ego"--another Facebook page that's set to private. You'll be SHOCKED out of your minds what gets posted there.....No one believed me in Sunday School, but when appropriately confronted EVERY Teen admitted having or having had and abandoned such a page because parents were "too nosy" or they "didn't want my privacy invaded." It's sad. Keep at 'em.
ReplyDeleteI used to do background checks for clients wanting to hire people. Facebook/Myspace were the first stop. Wow. Just plain Wow what kids will post.
Then there's their phones--all seem to have cameras and you really don't want to see what they photograph.........(not just sexting, but stupid).