Presentation addresses dangers students face through technology

Parents in Yuma County and their children are invited to a presentation led by Amberly's Place about what dangers exist for students online and through technology.

Amberly's Place forensic interviewer Christian Segura will be leading the presentation along with Castle Dome Middle School's resource officer, Joshua Johnson.

The event, titled “Out of children's mouths, let's stop what I hear,” will be held on March 6 at 6 p.m. in the CDMS cafeteria, 2353 S. Otondo Drive.

“This presentation is based on what is going on in our community, schools, and homes through the eyes of the many children victims that have been interviewed locally,” said Segura.

Johnson added that they're hoping that the presentation will be an eye-opener for parents and guardians as to how access to technology is leading to other things like crimes of cyberbullying, threats and other related issues.

“This is going to give parents a huge look at what kids are doing online, what they're doing with this new technology, how much more advanced they are and how far behind we may be when it comes to really knowing what they're doing all the way from Facebook, Twitter to Myspace to Facetime to Instagram. There are also apps out there that are available, some kids might even know about, so they can actually disintegrate the messages with no record of it,” he said.

“So it's really becoming a battle, it's almost like the ‘Wild, Wild West' out there when it comes to technology. We're just really trying to make parents aware and let them know that they really need to be that much more involved in the technology when it comes to this stuff... Parents just really need to be in the know of going on.”

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858.