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What To Do If Your Child Has An Inappropriate Video On YouTube

By Emily Ensign

The classroom fights that broke out at Seagovill High School (Dallas) surprised parents. But even more surprising to parents was that within the week, videos of the fights aired on YouTube.

“You hear of things like that happening in school, but when you actually see it visually, especially as a parent, it can be a little shocking,” Parent Deana Albrecht said.

YouTube has already removed the video Albrecht saw, but the issue of teens posting videos online is not going away. The internet has become an integral part of our lives—affecting youth and adults daily.

Marsali Hancock, iKeepSafe’s CEO and President, has explained that, “Kids connect emotionally with their devices. They often define their relationships through web platforms and text messages.”

With this in mind, it makes sense that online attention affects youth’s self esteem more significantly than it does adult’s, and makes them more willing to post anything—positive or negative—that will grab people’s interest.

So just what should you do if your teen has posted an inappropriate video online? What is the best way to respond?

1. Flag it – YouTube’s help center has straightforward instructions, and explains that beneath every video’s watch page is a button you can press to flag inappropriate content. Once this button is pressed, YouTube’s staff will review it (flagged videos are reviewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week) and if it is found to be in violation of the Community Guidelines it will be removed. Users who continually violate the Community Guidelines will have their accounts penalized or possibly banned from the site permanently.

2. Report it – If the video is filmed on school grounds, contact the principal; if the video involves other students, contact them and their parents. Reporting the incident to those involved and/or affected by the video, will help them understand why their behavior is wrong and why they shouldn’t do it in the future.

3. Connect with a school resource officer or law enforcement — School resource officers and law enforcement all have a direct email address to YouTube. This means that they can quickly communicate with Youtube’s staff and that connecting with them will likely speed up the process.

Ideally, parents should discuss the long-term consequences of behaving inappropriately online with their teens before an incident presents itself. Help them understand that for better or for worse, what teens do digitally impacts their relationships, their future academic and employment opportunities, their personal safety, identity, reputation, data and devices, and the security of the web. It also directly affects the climate and culture of their school.

As Jennifer Taylor, a Google policy analyst said, “More and more of life happens online, and Internet skills are necessary for day-to-day responsible living. Google empowers families with tools to make choices about their online activities, protects children through partnerships with law enforcement and industry partners, and provides educational materials to increase digital literacy in local communities. But no technical tool or law can be a substitution for involvement of parents or educators in teaching kids responsible online behaviors.”

Emily Ensign is a regular blogger for the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, an organization that gives parents, educators, and policymakers the information and tools that empower them to teach children the safe and healthy use of technology and the Internet.

Categories: Reputation

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