Last week, a number of organizational directors, social workers, and other staff gathered in Moorefield to view special presentations, learn, and get to know each other a little better.
An added bonus came in that the important information-sharing event took place during National Social Worker Month.
Derek Barr from Hardy Telecommunications led off with a presentation focusing on general cybersecurity best practices and also keeping children safe from online predators.
He opened by warning attendees that “ I guarantee children are able to see and do things online that you cannot” and that “if a . . . teenager wants to keep secret what they’re doing online, they can.”
Barr then suggested that parents should “have a conversation and a relationship with your children.”
He shared resources on the Hardy Telecommunications website that help inform everyone from children to seniors about potential dangers in the cyber realm.
Advice to parents of young children was to “have the talk” about the reality of the online world, potential dangers, how to avoid them, and to inform a parent or other trusted adult if they come into contact with a malevolent figure.
Older children in their adolescent and teenage years, Barr states, have started to not only join social media sites, gaming platforms, and other online venues, but, more importantly are “creating their own personality online.”
He added that children of all ages must understand that “anything that goes online, it’s there forever.”
With the emergence of artificial intelligence capabilities available for free online, predators can find numerous ways to take advantage. “Deep fakes” that use a real person’s face attached to another body or put in a false contact have grown to be such a problem that West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner is pushing the State Legislature to pass a bill regulating their use in political advertisements.
For a child, however, the placement of their face on another image meant to create ridicule, embarrassment, or torment, can be devastating. Barr said that he is aware of many situations where an innocent photograph of someone’s face was joined to “other pictures that are completely inappropriate.”
Children should never share photographs, physical location, or other personal information while also avoiding intimate and explicit conversations. Barr said that words shared when a person is close can be too easily weaponized if the relationship ends.
Barr went through a number of safety tips and government resources that can guide both children and adults into safer online practices.
After a lunch of Subway sandwiches, hot dogs, desserts, coffee, soda, and water, Cindi Corbin rose to speak about how to share with children of different age groups the importance of understanding “consent.” She also discussed how to make sure children understand their rights when it comes to their bodies and also the definitions of what consent is and what consent is not.
Corbin showed two videos in current use to share these concepts with young people. First she presented a video called “Consent for Kids.” Over and over, the video reiterated to the young children who serve as its target audience that they have body autonomy.
Body autonomy means that the child may choose to accept or reject when someone comes into their personal space and used hugging as a discussion point.
The video tells children that everyone is different. Some people love hugs and others hate hugs and one should never hug a person unless they know they have consent.
“How do people know if they have consent?” the video states, then answers with “They ask!”
It also provides a list of activities that children have no right to consent to, such as voting.
Corbin then showed a video entitled “Consent As a Cup of Tea” that she described as both “on point” and “pretty funny.”
The entire video uses offering a person a simple cup of tea as an extended metaphor for engagement in intimate activities – and the consent required to do so. Residents at both the Burlington Children’s Home and the Potomac State College dormitories were shown the short film.
Viewers saw every conceivable situation in which a person could be offered tea and reject it. It repeatedly stated that in any situation where one might reject tea “do not force the person to drink the tea,” with the words joined by one stick figure trying to force tea down the throat of another.
“If they are unconscious, do not offer them tea,” it states, then adds “unconscious people do not want tea. Trust me on this.”
At the conclusion, the video narrator stated that he hopes that all understand now “how completely ludicrous it is to offer tea when they don’t want tea.”
The third presenter, Amy Candrell from On Track Anti Drug Coalition shared information about the prevalence of vaping among teenagers, as well as the health and social consequences of such behaviors.
She shared that a little under half of West Virginia teenagers report that they vape, a rate almost double that of the national population. Among those in middle school, 15.3 percent vape.
Later, she shared that the average cost per month to vape is $126. A viable question to ask young people curious about the practice is “where are you going to get that $126?”
The meeting ended with all in the room introducing themselves and also their organizations and specific roles in them.
