Ganado students learn of social media safety
Submitted by jcht2010 on
Mark Seguin had his identity stolen when he was still a child, and didn’t find out about it until he was 18 years old. Since then, he’s gone on to educate others, with a company called TBG Solutions.
TBG stands for “The Bad Guys,” and he travels several states educating people on safety. What started as identity theft has evolved into education on online behaviors, particularly on social media and in text messages. Texting and social media websites like Facebook, Snap Chat, Omegle, and more, allow users to say what they want, when they want, and to reach an audience far larger than it would at a social gathering, something Seguin says can be useful, but dangerous.
Seguin made a stop at Ganado ISD on Aug. 26, speaking to students of all ages about how to use social media, and maybe more importantly, how not to use it. As part of their Check out a Device and Bring Your Own Device programs, Ganado administrators invited Seguin to the school, to teach students how to use their devices and their internet connections responsibly.
He reminded students that “deleted” doesn’t mean “erased from the internet forever,” and that their “private” posts can be exposed to the world, and can cost them jobs, scholarships, chances to go to certain colleges, and more.
He told real-life anecdotes about people who made in-the-moment bad judgment calls and paid dearly for them, including a high school girl driven to suicide after sending photos of herself without clothes on to a boy, who then shared them. Another story of a college football player who shared things deemed inappropriate by school administrators and lost a scholarship and was expelled.
Students were also reminded that nothing is really free.
“On social media, you are not the customer,” said Seguin, “you are the inventory.” He went on to explain that companies like Facebook pry for information, which they then share with marketing companies who then use that information to push their products on users by way of ads, emails, etc.
Mark Seguin was a victim once, and it led to a career that allows him to help others not be. He is a certified identity theft and risk management specialist, and public speaker who hopes that his work will help others to prevent disaster by thinking before they post, tweet, send, snap, or Instagram. As technology becomes more prevalent among youth, his is an important message.
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