Photos, Photos Everywhere

[Eamonn]

We have had a few students suspended from out local high school because of some really not so nice photos.

Thankfully none of the students are in the Ship, but sadly a couple are in Scouting.

It seems that some female students took some pictures of various body parts. They used their cell phone cameras to take them and then send them to boys that they knew. Soon the pictures were all over the place.

Teachers found them on cell phones, laptop computers. Some had been downloaded and printed.

I never seen the photos, but OJ said they were like you would see in Playboy!!

I have to admit to being shocked that girls would do such a silly thing.

Some of the boys got a ten day suspension and it seems that they will not be able to be on the track team this year.

At the dance the Ship held a couple of weeks back, I noticed that the young people there seemed to spend half the night taking pictures of each other using cell phones and digital cameras. As far as I know these were just snapshots and were taken fully dressed -But I wasn't in the Ladies room!!

When I was their age I had to buy film and then pay to look at the pictures I'd taken. Of course now the picture is there in an instant and can be on it's way around the world seconds later. I know within an hour of Rory arriving I'd e-mailed his picture to six different countries!!

On the news this week there have been stories about some of the web sites that youths are using and how perverts are lurking trying to pick up youngsters. One tip they had for parents was not to allow web-cams in your teenagers room.

I'm sure the parents of the girls who took the photos that did the rounds of our local HS were shocked and upset, but when you think how much worse it could be or could get (One of the boys could have posted the picture along with the name on the Internet!!) It really is shocking.

We really do need to talk to our kids, Scouts, youth members and make them aware of the danger. We also need to be sure that we set a good example when we set up unit web sites.

Eamonn.

[funscout]

I'm glad you brought up this problem. It does need attention right away. My son knows of Middle school boys who have cell phones and have received provocative pictures of girls. Some of are girls they know, and some are of girls from who knows where.

 

I personally don't see the need for Middle School (and younger) kids to have cell phones. Hopefully parents will at least make sure their child's phone is NOT a camera phone. I think you can still get phones without the camera option.

 

And, as you said, Eammon, parents need to talk to their kids about the danger of e-mailing pictures.

[Lisabob]

Yup, that's pretty scary stuff. I hope the girls who took and initially sent the photos got in as much trouble as the boys who viewed the photos.

 

Seems like maybe an opportunity for an SM (or whatever your position in the ship is? I'm sorry that I don't know...) minute here. Somehow relating this to the scout law. Not like the kids in your ship won't already know that this has happened so you might as well talk about it.

 

By the way, you did hear the recent news story about some late-teens who had been busted for under-age drinking and had agreed as part of their probation not to drink, etc.. and then used their camera phones to take and post photos on their blogs of themselves drinking, accompanied by taunts of the judge who had given them probation to start with? The judge just happened to come across those photos and the girls ended up with jail sentences. I know that a fair number of college freshmen leave their brains at home but even my 11 year old thought *that* was pretty dumb! (here's to hoping he'll still have some common sense in his head when he's 19!)

 

Lisa'bob