Online but not on guard: What Danger lurks in social media

Technology is constantly changing in todays world, and the moment that you think you have figured out one popular program children are using, there is another knocking at the door begging them to download it. With applications being so readily available whether on smartphones or the computer, technology is always at our fingertips, and on our GPS.

Location services is a feature that many smartphones have. This capability is nice; however, it cal also leave a location accessible by predators. Educating our children to make sure that they are using this service when needed but also turning it off and not frequently checking in to place such as “home” can help protect and guard a child’s privacy.

Children use a variety of online services when browing the world wide web, and each of these services can have different safety concerns. However, keeping an open communication network with your child and monitoring their internet connectivity is the number one key to protection.

According to Tri County Principal Clay Harrold, “Sadly, the internet and maybe more specifically social media, can have quite the impact on the students and learning environment. If educated, the internet can be a valuable learning tool for the students to obtain information. In regards to social media though, this has had a negative impact in some situations not just at Tri-County, but across the state. Our schools goal is to educate the students on the negative side effects that can occur through improper use of the internet and other technologies.”

Social media networks are not the only concern when it comes to sharing information. Predators are starting to frequent more peer to peer websites (p2p)  in order to keep track of an individual habits, likes and activity. BitTorrent is a popular p2p  file sharing protocol that allows the transfer of any file; large or small.  Files include: video games, e-books & various text documents, music files, and software.
The use of BitTorrent or p2p networking in itself is not illegal or problematic.  With that being said, the problems come in when you share copyrighted works without the proper permissions.  Music and movie industries especially are targeting illegal file sharing with unrelenting persistence.

For more information check out this weeks edition of The Keota Eagle

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