A day away from school

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow ( Saturday), the school librarian, and our School Resource Officer, and I get to journey downtown to the Hilton Anatole for a cyber bullying conference. I am excited for many reasons: 1. It's a topic I that definitely comes into my office almost daily, 2. I get to go with fun coworkers and have lunches at an actual restaurant, and 3. It's a great excuse to see a few of my besties and stay at hotel Farrah- it's just a win all the way around!

Today we watched a presentation with lots of statistics, a lot of them were scary, like 20% of teens have given their phone number and/or address to someone they did not know on Facebook...a lot of it though, did not shock me. The underlying message was that kids are "plugged in" all the time. This really makes me think about me. I am writing this blog right now on my iPhone, the pictures below we're also taken on my phone, I pay my bills and do all my banking from this phone, I check my Facebook MANY times a day, as well as my email- I never unplug, I am pretty much addicted to my phone. That is not something I am necessarily proud of, but it's true.

There are so many things one can do with a smart phone. I don't think the average parent gets that. It's a difficult line, you want to trust your kids, and if you are too over protective they can go wild. The sad truth is that kids are KILLING THEMSELVES over things, rumors, and bullying on Facebook, twitter, YouTube, etc. It is heartbreaking enough to think that there are kids that are picked on all day at school, compound that with what happens over the Internet after school and on the weekends...it's brutal.

I am amazed at the amount of sexting that occurs, it is happening in elementary schools y'all. What scares me more than that, is thinking about if this is the trend now, what boundaries will be pushed in 2 years or 10. I feel like I am in a pretty good position, between being pretty techno savvy and working with high school students everyday I feel like I at the very least am aware of what is going on; however, I don't know what can be done to stop it. Technology is an amazing thing, but it can also do a lot of harm. We are failing kids to not educate them on cyber safety, it is so important for parents to talk to their kids, that's what I walked away today from the conference with. Today was a bit more of an overview. The next two days have several break out sessions that should, I hope, provide me with more answers...