Be careful how you use your phone, security expert says
All but a handful of seventh-graders admitted they did not have a cell phone during a recent assembly at Peters Township Middle School that was held to discuss how to properly use cell phones.
“So you’re probably wondering why this old guy is going to tell me how to use my cell phone,” said Jim Dill, a Harrisburg-based security expert and former deputy chief with the state Attorney General’s office.
“My goal here is to raise awareness,” said Dill, president of Technology and Investigative Solutions. “My ultimate goal is safety and prevention.”
His 50-minute presentation called “The Darker Side of Social Media” was designed to encourage the 300 or so seventh-graders to think before they text, or send a revealing photograph to a stranger they friended on the Internet.
Dill didn’t pull any punches during his talk.
He told the story of a 13-year-old girl who sent a nude photo of herself to her 15-year-old boyfriend. They later stopped dating and the boy showed the picture to all of his friends. The girl became so embarrassed that she could not return to school and now is home schooled, Dill said.
Then there was the story of the teenage girl who became friends with who she thought was a teenage boy that she met online. The “boy” turned out to be a 54-year-old man.
Dill said the man talked to her like a teenager and said he wished he had his driver’s license so he could visit. He also asked the girl for a picture of her in her bra and panties. The girl sent the photo.
“He tells her she is more beautiful that he originally thought and asks her for a topless photo.” The girl refused, but the “boyfriend” said if she didn’t send the photo, then he would show the photo of her in her underwear to her parents.
“She sends the photo,” he said.
Dill told the students it is important to know their phones are really hand-held computers that can be used to make calls, text, shoot video, watch television and movies and much more.
“Cell phones are the number one stolen item,” Dill said. “You have to treat your phone like the important item it is. You are carrying a computer and you need to make sure it is password protected.”
Dill told the students if they feel like they are being “cyber bullied,” do not delete the bad messages. Go to an adult and tell them what is happening, he added.
“You never know when you will need to get the police involved,” Dill said.
Also, turn off the location setting on the phone, he said.
“Location sharing is the hottest growing trend in social media,” he said. “But, people use Facebook to rob houses.”