Cell Phone Safety

Cell phones offer both communication and safety benefits for parents and teens. However, like most technologies, they also pose some risks. Adults need to be able to talk to teens about cell phone safety in a way that shows an understanding of the issues and the technology.

KNOW THE RISKS

Adults and teens often stay connected through cell phones. The pressure to have a cell phone is a growing issue; a teen can find her/himself excluded from peers if s/he does not have one. There are three areas of risk that exist in the technology itself: the content it delivers, the instant contact it provides with others and the conduct of teens. We call this the three Cs.

CONTENT – What are the risks?

Exposure to inappropriate material (receiving and viewing)

  • Receiving sexually explicit texts, photos or videos.
  • Viewing sexually explicit/inappropriate websites using a cell phone’s web browser.
  • Receiving threatening material through texts.

Losing control of photos or videos

  • Photos/videos or personal information could be sent to others by a ‘friend’ or accidentally sent to someone unknown.
  • Photos/videos sent from a cell phone could be posted online. Photo-sharing websites (e.g. Photobucket), online video sites (e.g. Youtube) and social networking sites (e.g. Facebook) make reproducing and distributing photos/videos extremely easy.
  • Photos could be posted in a public place (e.g. a school or website) for anyone to see.
  • Uploading photos/videos to a blog/social networking page from a cell phone might disclose location or other information that puts the teen at risk.

CONTACT – What are the Risks?

Being bothered by someone

With cell phones as the primary tool teens use to communicate with one another, hurtful or harassing calls/texts can be especially distressing and disruptive. Individuals may use this tactic to control a person and monitor her/his whereabouts. If bothering turns to harassment it may require involvement from the police.

Meeting someone

Relationships that start online seem to progress faster than they do offline. These online relationships can quickly progress to an adolescent wanting to meet up in person, and s/he may not perceive any threat or need for safety precautions. This is further complicated if teens are connected and reachable 24 hours a day on their cell phone. It’s important to remind adolescents not to meet up with anyone they meet online or on their cell phone without parental permission.

Conduct: What are the risks?

Breaking social/emotional boundaries

All teens need a sense of belonging, and many stay connected by texting with friends. Texting allows teens to interact without a face-to-face exchange and therefore removes some social cues that help guide appropriate behaviour when communicating in person. Communicating through technology seems to reduce inhibitions to cross social boundaries. To reduce risk of victimization it is important to discuss with teens how easily information shared in confidence, including pictures, can be misused by others. This can have devastating effects on teens.

Creation, possession and distribution of illegal content (sending and receiving)

  • Sending and receiving nude images involving a person under 18 years of age through a mobile device is potentially illegal.

Cell Phone Safety Tips

General safety strategies include:

  1. Discussing with teens the importance of boundaries when using technology. Explain the importance of protecting information and respecting their and others’ privacy.
  2. Discussing with teens the meaning of friendship. Explain that in healthy friendships, friends protect and respect information that has been shared with them and would not misuse it to intentionally hurt their friend.
  3. Discussing with teens the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. Explain that sexually graphic material online does not represent intimacy. A healthy relationship involves many components such as closeness, respect and trust.
  4. Telling teens not to respond to bothering, harmful, or unsolicited calls or messages, to save the messages (voice or text) and to tell a safe adult who can help.
  5. Reminding teens that it is easy to lose control over what happens to texts, photos, and videos. Discuss the associated risks.
  6. Reminding teens that they have the ability to cut-off communication with any individual who is harassing them. Explain that this may mean involving a safe adult to help address the concerns.
  7. Reminding teens that it may be illegal to send nude photographs to others, and if sent, can result in significant humiliation.

For more information visit http://www.mobility.protectchildren.ca.