Parents Google Your Child

Hip Hop Summit in Orlando, Florida

Parents Google Your Child

As a presenter at two recent conferences, AME Youth Leadership
Conference in Palm Coast, Florida and the Hip Hop Men’s Health
Summit in Orlando, Florida my presentations focused on Social
Media content as it relates to Bullying and Cyberbullying.
Speaking with over 300 young men at the Hip Hop Conference
attending my session, there is a disconnect between teens, young
adults and their parents. This motivated me to write this blog
about parents Goggling their children to see what they are doing
online.
Parents your child’s SoLoMo or Social Local Mobile online
presence is influenced by their use of digital media, the platforms
that provide a Social Media Presence. Technology has integrated,
infused and intruded into millions of youth and teen’s lives.
Students from elementary to high school have direct communication
with each other 24/7 – 365, many parents have no clue to the
connective power of Social Media.
Presenting days earlier at the AME Youth Leadership Conference
in Palm Coast, Florida students share how technology benefits
their lives and creates challenges in Bullying, Cyberbullying and
other issues. The influence of Social Local and Mobile technologies
is so powerful it can influence a student’s opportunities for college acceptance, employment, Internships, military acceptance and even academic/social performance in school.
The world is very competitive and students are competing for the
best colleges and careers. Social Media has an affect on their positioning.
The establishment of a student’s online reputation is determined by
the content they create and post. Reputations are influenced
tremendously because the first impression society has of youth today is through Social Media platforms. Examples can be seen through the Trayvon Martin case and his posted content. So powerful is this that both sides of this legal battle are focusing on exposing or hiding Trayvon’s digital content. Social Media content has created a paradigm shift (Anthony Butler, Sr. E3 Business Group) in a youth’s reputation and their first impressions to the world.
Parents your children should understand that their Social presence has far ranging consequences and what they post online never goes away.
A youth and teens Social Media presence and content will never go
away. There’s no longer the initial physical handshakes that create a first impression in a traditional manner. The handshake is digital, graphical and multimedia.
The middle and high school students in attendance at the Hip Hop
conference were asked to take out their cell phones to reflect on the value of thinking and reasoning. The increase in Social Media platforms has influenced students even at elementary age (8-12) to spread their content across the world. Parents must understand that their children are cloning themselves across a digital landscape, their Avatar clones:
textual, graphical and multimedia are on Pinetrest, Facebook, Youtube, Vine, Vimeo, Instagram, Socialcam, Twitter, Google +, Rebelmouse, and the list continues to grow.
Businesses and colleges are investigating potential candidates and those in their networks and friends to see if they are worthy of acceptance and hiring. The Google Me process is a safeguard or a stopgap to check what is visible from content postings. This should be done at least twice a month so parents can view what their children are doing and how they are active especially during summer break.
Colleges want to make sure their students are not bringing
controversial agendas on campus similar to the recent Boston bombing suspects. The best way to track or monitor a student’s psychological and emotional state is to look at their digital content. Looking at postings that are representative of the challenges and struggles, successes that a student experiences.
Maybe parents need a Prizm to monitor their children online activity or in laymen’s terms create digital condoms to protect against posting potentially damaging content. Parent are concerned about who “physically” enters their home, but have no clue who or whom has digital access inside their homes. This digital invasion or inception is just as dangerous and pervasive.
Parents should view their child’s Social Media pages until their child is at least responsible for their ability to financially support their access.
Parents must set the foundation for Social Media use. The potential for Bullying, Sexting, Cyberbullying and Cyberstalking are a possibility as young men shared from the Hip Hop Summit.
In a digital society using SMH, LMAO, WT* represent the extension
of emotions. Emotional drama is still present and influences discussions.
Social Media trainings and workshops should be available for
youth and teens to prevent drama that can be destructive in nature.
Media elements focus on the negative digital life styles of youth as seen by the reports of Trayvon Martin. It is remarkable that the media can access a youth or teens Social Media platforms and manipulate the perceptions that will either offer sympathy or condemnation against that teen.
Parents must understand what their children are posting and Google
their children every 2 months to check on content, pictures, video and activities along with who they are associated with.
During my presentations terms I use: “guilt by association,”
“responsibility and integrity,” and accountability and spirituality.” All play a part in youth and teens judged by the company they keep and interact with in online environments.
They are guilty by association because of the postings of friends and family. If teachers, law enforcement personnel, congressmen, attorneys, and other professionals can lose their jobs from inappropriate content a warning to be sure to see potential conflicts in SoLoMo Social Mobile Local content.
Teens now have global exposure and must be taught how to gauge their content. If a youth or teen is not responsible for their Social Media content there maybe far reaching consequences that transcend into the adult world. Maybe the Prizm is not a bad idea for parents to use or a programmer can create a Social Media condom to protect youth and teens from posting damaging information.
For now it is up to parents that are responsible and accountable to and for their children.
Summits that I have presented and participated in: the Education Summit in Jacksonville, Journey Into Woman Hood in Jacksonville, Jacksonville Urban League Leadership Summit, Save Our Sons Jax in Jacksonville, AME Youth Leadership Conference in Palm Coast, Hip Hop Health Summit in Orlando and the upcoming Man Up for Health http://ManUpforHealth.eventbrite.com
this Saturday, June 22nd.
These summits, workshops, expos, conferences should be filled to capacity by parents, educators, politicians and those that represent all our religious and ministerial denominations. To empower and engage parents, to strengthen families and build intelligent youth, teens and young adults that will lead us into the 23rd century. It takes a village to raise out youth
to be leaders.

William Jackson and Youth at Hip Hop Summit

Social Media Professional Development for Youth and Teens

Social Media Professional Development

Social Media Professional Development for Youth and Teens

Professional development is essential to learn new skills,
new policies and procedures for a profession. Youth and
teens also need professional development to keep them
knowledgeable in diverse areas of instruction. To build a
teen’s knowledge base, skill sets and critical thinking skills
it is important that youth and teens are provided
professional development either through schools,
churches or community organizations.

The South District Church School Convention of
AME Churches held its annual convention for youth
that focused on professional development for youth
from various AME churches. This convention was held in
Palm Coast Florida this year, a central location for
churches from Jacksonville, Florida and throughout
the state.
One of the workshops for youth and teens was Social
Media. Conducted by William Jackson an educator with
Duval County Public Schools whom is also a Social Media
consultant, Blogger, speaker on Social Media platforms
and Bullying/Cyberbullying presenter.

One of the challenges for creating effective professional
development for teens is to promote positive youth
development and plan quality experiences with young people.
The most effective way for students to acquire concepts is
to have interactive trainings that require youth and teens to
take a active role in learning. The instruction cannot
be totally in a lecture format. Youth and teens must
have an interactive experience so learning is covered in as
many learning modalities as possible. Integrating video and
lecture encourages participation on a large scale.

Lem’mon Wright of the South District Convention scheduled
several hundred youth to participate in the Social Media
presentation that used Youtube videos, open dialogue,
role playing, question and answer sessions arranged by
the presenter/instructor William Jackson.

These strategies allow students to learn and teach each other
about the positive uses and negative consequences of Social
Media participation. A key element discussed was Marketing
and Branding oneself for future careers, Internships and
potential scholarships. How to properly Brand each other as
a expert or knowledgeable in a particular area. Students talked
about future careers and the need even in middle and high school
to Brand themselves and Network in the areas they have a serious
interest. This allows for youth even in middle and high school to
connect with mentors, role models and have a resource for
motivation to perform well in school.

A quote that can be applied to professional development for
youth and teens states, “Although community programs should
address the serious concerns of today’s young people, they should
also respond to adolescents’ desire for fun and friends.”
A Matter of Time, p. 79. Social Media is integrated into millions
of youth and teens life. They need to be trained on the proper uses
and positive creation of content.

The development of Social Media teen leaders for schools and even
churches is important. The leaders serve as role models, mentors and
inspire growth in multiple areas, not just in academics but, also in
Social Media accountability and responsibility. There should be
additional avenues for professional development that expose youth
and teens to grow beyond their current levels. The partnerships between schools, organizations and churches should be strengthened because of their similar course to educate and Bless youth, teens and young adults.

Parents Prevent Cyberbullying This Summer

Parents Prevent Cyberbullying This Summer

As millions of students across the country are being
released for summer vacation the opportunities for
Cyberbullying and harassment increases.
The dynamics of the family structure are that parents
are working either a full time job, longer hours at work,
a full time and part time job. These hours away from
children are times where there is a lack of parental
guidance and monitoring. This opens doors for the use
and abuse of Social Media platforms by students.

Students are using more Social Media tools to stay in
contact with friends, to stay connected and in the know.
Students are very social creatures and interactive.
Being “Social Creatures” is not a new thing: humans are
the most social creatures on Earth. Writings such as
from Leakey, (1978) have stated that, “The emerging
human mind now evolved to fit its cultural niche, to
survive as a social creature.” Technology contributes to
social interactions both good and bad.
The chances for Bullying are not diminished over summer
breaks, in fact they can actually grow because many
students have their own Smart phones, tablets, hand-held
devices that connect to the Internet, even video gaming
platforms connect to Social Media sites and parents are not
readily available to provide guidance and monitoring.

The seriousness of Cyberbullying nationwide are the results
of growing numbers of youth and teens committing suicide
because of constant taunting, harassment and demeaning
character destruction. When youth and teens feel isolated,
rejected and turned away it derails the emotional and
psychological stability of young people. Young people are
social creatures, their lives are built around their friends and
activities that provide a foundation of social growth, social
interactivity and that establishes a “place of existence” in life.

Recent studies like:
“Social Animals: Who’s Sharing What and Why Online?”have
shown that “It’s becoming a form of seamless integration
with users’ lives; it’s always with them.” Cate Riegner, Vice
President of Brand Insights and co-founder of Netpop Research.
Technology is not just made of electronic connections; it has
an overwhelming human and personal connectivity. That
connectivity can be seen as positive in nature or have
destructive consequences.

This year Florida Governor Rick Scott addressed several
issues related to schools. Bills take on Cyber-bullying,
the expansion of its definition, House Bill 609 expands the
schools authority on how to take action for Cyber-bullying,
expanding the definition of bullying and harassment. There
are many perceptions of Bullying and Cyberbullying, consistant
definitions are important to address how to deal with issues
at school and in the community. Students are spontaneous
and when they put things on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr in
many cases it is a spur of the moment impulse. If there are
high emotions from anger and embarrassment there could
be threats from physical harm to emotional harm. These new
laws help to regulate the more serious aspects of digital
Bullying/Cyberbullying. Gov. Scott understands the seriousness
and implications of digital actions. These actions by students
do create a distraction at schools that affect the learning
environment. Resulting in actions that may transition to
physical violence. In the recent extreme Bullying cases violence
happening, resulting in hospitalizations and court actions as
is being seen in Jacksonville, Florida, Chicago, Detroit and
other cities that have Bullying cases.

The upcoming 2013 – 2014 school year will see an increase
in students using online resources. Students will have additional
access to school networks either traditional or wireless. Schools
are allowing BYOD Bring Your Own Device to schools so
teachers must be more aware.
In too many cases parents either do not know what their children
are doing or don’t bother in investigate further if their
child tells them they are doing research or studying. Parents
must be proactive and involved when their children are using
online resources. There is not just access to Cyberbullying,
but CyberPorn, CyberStalking and other activities dangerous
to youth and teens. Even the growing case of human trafficking
where Social Media is used to lure girls and boys
into the world of child pornography and as sex slaves.

Cyberbullying (HB 609): will expand the influence of Florida’s public
schools to investigate and discipline students for Cyberbullying
conducted through the use of a school computer. Further actions
through the assistance of law enforcement can be conducted
when a student is Cyberbullying from home. The Florida legislation
defines “cyberbullying” as harassment through the use of computers,
technology or electronic communications.

The pervasiveness of technology is such that nationally there
are a growing number of states passing new laws and schools are
creating new policies and procedures to handle not just Cyberbullying,
but Sexting, Cyberporn and Cyberstalking.

The foundation of these actions is parental responsibility
and accountability, to have parents monitor, question,
investigate and in extreme cases turn off or deny the use
of electronic devices if the parent/child trust has been
violated and laws broken.
In a recent workshop for Journey Into Womenhood (JIW) students
conducted skits concerning Bullying actions, reactions,
preventions and avoiding physical threats. In these young
ladies early lives they have been Bullied, harassed,
Cyberbullied and threatened. The Florida legislature
has taken a much needed step in further preventing and
decreasing the opportunities for Cyberbullying in Florida
schools.
The next element is parental knowledge and proactively
being involved in monitoring or censoring what children
are exposed to in online worlds.

Resources:
Bullying Skits from I Will Survive Bullying
“Journey Into Womanhood,”

Bullying Prevention Skits
Workshop participation by JIW girls and young ladies:

Skit One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIDmyS001g
Skit Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXPpTCGFUFA
Skit Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KXzSSpAS7w