USER TOO FRIENDLY
Students hope to make others aware of online dangers.
Kristen Snow doesn’t mince words when it comes to pornography.
“It’s not nice to see … it’s gross, it’s slimey and you don’t want it in your house,” says the Grade 12 Munro Academy student, one of the organizers of an upcoming session on how students and parents can safely navigate the online world.
Snow became concerned about 18 months ago when she began to realize just how prevalent it was. When she became aware of its addictive effects on people, her concerns grew.
“I don’t go around asking if you watch porn or if you have struggled with porn but I think it’s a fair assumption to make that at least 90 per cent or something have struggled with it,” she said, adding it can lead to some uncomfortable situations, especially when you learn friends or relatives are viewing it.
“Just stumbling upon or finding out your parent watches it or that your girlfriend or boyfriend watches it or your brother, any relationship, to walk in on somebody you care about watching it, it’s not nice
to see and it doesn’t feel great.”
Snow began asking Munro Academy principal Doug Beane to bring in someone to talk about the issue and soon other students, like Jordan Francis, became involved.
“It’s easier to talk about what someone’s posted on Facebook than it is to talk about porn,” said Francis. “And it’s easier to just not talk about it at all. But that’s stupid — it’s an issue and it physically rewires your brain and a lot of people don’t understand the effects of what porn can do to you and what it can do to future relationships, current relationships and everything in your life. I’ve been passionate about that whole issue for a while.”
The students’ concerns have led to them organizing a session on Friday, March 2 at Cape Breton University’s Boardmore Playhouse at 7 p.m.
Snow and Francis will speak about their concerns and guest speaker Jonathon Van Maren from the Canadian Centre For Bio-Ethical Reform will also speak at the session, “Navigating A Connected World.”
While pornography will be one of the issues discussed at the forum, which will be aimed at high school students, cyberbullying will be covered, says Beane.
“They’re looking specifically at issues of pornography and cyberbullying and what kind of steps students and parents can take to stay safe from predators, to how to have healthy boundaries in their own usage, and the steps parents can take,” said Beane.
“I’m 46 years old and I have children — what do I need to know about what the realities are. They’ll be sharing from their own perspectives as Grade 12 students and what life is like growing up in a digital connected world.”
Francis says the point of the
whole session is to raise awareness and to start a discussion on an issue that most would prefer to ignore.
“The point is to let people know that it is real and that it’s not something that should be disregarded.”
For Snow, her hope is to get people involved and understanding what’s out there.
“We’re hoping to get parents to be able to work with their kids and understanding what precautions they should be taking when they post things and what there actually is out there instead of just saying no, you can’t do this, you can’t have a phone, instead of just restricting everything,” she said. “It’s about finding ways to use the internet in a healthy way.”