A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
You glance at your teen’s smartphone and see a text message light up the screen. Was that a sext you just saw? Questions flood your mind. Is this what kids are doing nowadays? Does this mean my child is having sex too? Sexting — the exchange of sexual messages, photographs or videos via technological devices [...]
"If you'd seen what I'd seen, you would never allow your child alone in their bedroom with an internet-capable device." Detective Inspector Jon Rouse, from Queensland's Taskforce Argos which investigates internet-facilitated crimes against children, has delivered a chilling warning to parents. He was among detectives to speak in a video released by the Queensland Police [...]
Could you imagine sending a sexually explicit photo of yourself to a stranger? Maybe your children can. Research published this year suggests one in seven teenagers have sent explicit texts and one in four have received them. It prompted the Australian Medical Association to overhaul its youth outreach program, Dr YES (Youth Education Session), to [...]
Research published this year suggests one in seven teenagers have sent explicit texts and one in four have received them. It prompted the Australian Medical Association to overhaul its youth outreach program, Dr YES (Youth Education Session), to include more up-to-date information about sexting and health. The program involves medical students visiting high schools for [...]
Jenny was different. Born with a rare disease, she was larger in size than other kids at school and a little bit slower. She also has a mild facial abnormality which I will not mention here as I don’t want her to be identified, which is why I have also changed her name. Jenny has [...]
Facebook says it is proceeding with its controversial ‘revenge porn’ prevention pilot, despite the slew of concerns from security experts and victim advocates. The company announced the scheme in November last year, detailing the steps users had to take to stop intimate images being shared on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger without their consent. The process [...]
Did you know that one in three teens has had their own explicit image used against them? This startling statistic comes from a survey of 12,000 students across Australia at a Generation Next teen wellbeing event held in March. It’s also the area of expertise of cyber safety expert and founder of Internet Safe Education, former police officer and [...]
Angela Reynolds's daughter Ashley was a high school freshman in 2009 when a stranger calling himself "Captain Obvious," with a profile that made it look like he was a teenager, messaged her through social media. He claimed to to have nude pictures of her. Ashley ignored him at first, but he became more insistent, threatening [...]
Every day, at least one case of under-age sexting lands on the desk at the Child Protection Investigation Unit in Rockhampton, central Queensland. Sexting is the sending, receiving, or forwarding, of sexually explicit messages, photographs or videos via mobile phone. It falls to Detective Sergeant Angus Kerr and his team to handle these cases, and he said [...]
Not everything online is evil, nor does danger lurk behind every new app that comes to market. But keeping up with your teens' and preteens' online activities is much like trying to nail jelly to the barn door - frustrating, futile and something bound to make you feel inept. Keep in mind that no app poses [...]
