Georgina Chumbley.
Children as young as twelve are uploading "selfies" in underwear and suggestive poses to Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram in a bid for popularity.
Psychologist, Dr Ross Wilkinson, says the trend is a "dangerous and deluded modern quest for social identity”.
Hundreds of social media pages are encouraging tweens to post photos of themselves, or “selfies”, in a bid to become its “hottest teen” as voted by members.
 |
| Submissions onto Facebook competition pages. Some faces blurred due to content. |
Pages "should be shut down"
Cybersafety advocate, Leonie Smith, says the sites are an "open market" for pedophiles but don't involve explicitly pornographic material, meaning they can continue operating under Facebook's terms.
“Pedophiles have harvested photos before from similar pages for pedophilic websites.
“Even if someone’s just posting a photo on their own profile for their friends to see, anyone can save and share that photo.
"It's absolutely abhorrent, horrible, degrading and awful.
"But most people just don't know about these dangers," she said.
Parent's called for legal right to access their children's Facebook pages last year, but no action was taken.
"It's absolutely abhorrent, horrible, degrading and awful.
"But most people just don't know about these dangers," she said.
Parent's called for legal right to access their children's Facebook pages last year, but no action was taken.
 |
| Facebook beauty competition sites with thousands of 'likes'. |
Ms Smith says education needs to match the rapid uptake of technology amongst younger generations.
Tumblr photo sharing page for tweeted photos to FBeauty Contest
There for life
Social Media expert, Ms Lubna Alam, says while not all teenagers behave to this extreme, the immediacy of smart phones combined with a desire to constantly update social profiles could have serious repercussions.
Social Media expert, Ms Lubna Alam, says while not all teenagers behave to this extreme, the immediacy of smart phones combined with a desire to constantly update social profiles could have serious repercussions.
“Adolescents just don’t understand that anything posted on these sites is publicly available for life," Ms Alam said.
Year 12 student, Rhyme Lara, spends “half [her] life” online and says social media has “changed the way teenage society works”.
She says there is constant pressure to update your profile to “stay connected”.
 |
| A 17-year-old schoolgirl with 1738 likes on a photo. |
"How many likes or comments you get on a photo determines your popularity… the more likes you get, the more people like you and the cooler you are.
 |
| Provocative "bikini-shots" posted by Brisbane school girls with hundreds of 'likes'. |
“It’s so demeaning because usually the photos that get the most likes are really provocative... so it’s pretty much a competition over who has the biggest boobs, who can look the best in their bikini, and guys always try and encourage the girls by asking for more.
“I’ve seen 12-year-olds posting bikini shots.
"It starts at 12, and it probably just doesn’t ever end from there," Ms Lara said.
Destructive effects on tweens
"It starts at 12, and it probably just doesn’t ever end from there," Ms Lara said.
Destructive effects on tweens
She’s witnessed first hand the destructive effects social media can have on her peers.
“I have a friend who was anorexic and tried to commit suicide because she compared herself to girls that got more likes than her, and thought being skinny and getting likes would make her happy."
Internet trolls hijack the sites to make derogatory and offensive comments about teenagers' appearances.
“If you don't look skinny, pretty and rich and you post a photo… everyone targets you."
Comments that appear on the site include, "fat hippy, stop eating" and "stupid emo bi&#@h".
Same mistakes, new technology
 |
| Example of troll's comments on a Facebook beauty competition page. |
Same mistakes, new technology
Dr Wilkinson says teenagers are still making the same mistakes they were 20 years ago, but now they’re broadcasting them indiscriminately and irreversibly.
“Often teenagers feel like they have a better judgement of situations than they actually do and they do things impulsively without thinking about the social implications.”
“Combine this with new technology and if you write or post something impulsively everybody knows about it pretty quickly and there’s no way of getting it down.
“If these young adults are posting provocative images of themselves online, that’s going to be there for the rest of their lives... and the overwhelming, 24/7 pressure that's causing them to do this could have worrying effects on their mental health," Dr Wilkinson said.
Anyone looking for more information on how to be cyber smart can visit Leonie Smith's website.
Lifeline's 24 hour telephone crisis support service is available to anyone needing emotional support on one national number - 13 11 14.
No comments:
Post a Comment