IN THE age of rising technology, it is no surprise there is a big focus on educating children about the dangers of sharing graphic images or messages with their friends.
Police and the Kids Helpline continue to hold concerns about graphic images of school-aged children being posted and traded on the internet.
Mount Gambier Police community engagement officer Sergeant Andy Stott said police remain actively engaged with Limestone Coast students through the Think U Know program in a bid to combat ‘sexting’.
“The Think U Know program is nationally accredited and is delivered right around the Limestone Coast and it involves educating children about the consequences of producing, possessing or distributing child exploitation,” Mr Stott said.
“We do still have children offending in that area and they are held accountable usually through a family conference process.”
Mr Stott said the “sexting” phase peaked several years ago during the rise of smart phone technology.
“This issue in the Limestone Coast is definitely no greater than any other community around Australia,” he said.
“We are combating it by delivering this program to children of all ages and it is tailored to certain age groups, ramping up as they get older.”
He said the education program included advice about how to handle different cyber situations.
“Once you push send it is beyond your control,” he said.
“We try to make children understand that when a relationship breaks down, people are not always nice.”
The Kids Helpline have also been actively helping teens and young adults by providing advice through its service.
“We welcome the debate around sexting and the impacts on young people,” chief executive officer Tracy Adams said.
She said counsellors often hear children are feeling powerless and unsure of how to respond to requests for sharing explicit images online to their friends.
“Young peoples’ understanding of the consequences of oversharing explicit images is low or they may think they’re the exception and nothing bad will happen to them,” she said.
“Perhaps most worrying is the average age of those contacting us was only 13 years, suggesting the objectification of girls begins at a much earlier age than many imagined.”
She encouraged parents to feel comfortable to talk to their children about sexting.
“Teens are telling us that a sexting episode can be one of the hardest challenges to raise with their parents,” she said.
“It is important that through early education around cyber safety kids are given the tools to enable them to talk about this issue with parents or teachers.”
Mount Gambier Police will host a free Think U Know online safety presentation for adults as part of Child Protection Week.
The session will be held on September 4 from 12.30pm at the Mount Gambier Library.
