BEDFORD – The United Way of South Central Indiana, Families Forever and the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department are presenting parents and the community with a series of free events to arm you with knowledge and understanding to best protect children in Lawrence County.
“As we move towards becoming a trauma-informed care community one aspect is equipping parents and the community with knowledge and understanding to best protect children in this community,” said Kim Burgess Executive Director of United Way of South Central Indiana. “We know that social media is an avenue for child exploitation.”
In the United States, about half of kids have some form of social media by age 12. Recent research shows over 50% of teens report at least one symptom of clinical dependency on social media.
Many youths use the sites to compare themselves to others, seeking “likes” and other metrics rather than healthy, successful relationships.
“In other words, social media offers the ‘empty calories of social interaction’ that appear to help satiate our biological and psychological needs, but do not contain any of the healthy ingredients necessary to reap benefits,” said American Psychological Association Chief Science Officer Mitch Prinstein, Ph.D., told the Senate Judiciary Committee (PDF, 355KB).
Social media also heightens the risk for negative peer influence among adolescents, as well as for addictive social media use and stress, he added, citing research showing that many young people use social media more than they intend to and that they have difficulty stopping its use.
KEEPING KIDS SAFE: A 4-Part Series “Working Together for a Brighter Future” will be presented on Tuesday, April 4, from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the StoneGate Arts & Education Center at 931 15th Street in Bedford.
PART 1 will focus on Social Media – It’s Not All Fun and Games
When Bad Things Happen to Good Kids will be presented by Dr. John Keelser, of Families Forever & IU School of Social Work.
Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day will speak about Safety for Children in Our Community.
Cyber Crime: What you Should Know will be presented by Indiana State Police Cyber Crimes Detective Robert Whyte.
The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion.
For more information contact Carrie Marshall at Families Forever at 812-329-6941.
