Times Have Changed: Incorporate New Technology into Your Red Ribbon Week Events
April 14th, 2011 | 
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Things used to be simpler. With all of the new technology in the world today, it’s never been easier for kids to find information that may not be good for them. Red Ribbon Week offers a chance for students to learn about the dangers of drugs and how to avoid them anywhere.
When Red Ribbon Week was first held in 1988, pretty much nobody had a cell phone and computers were mostly used by businesses. Social networking did not exist and few had heard of the Internet. Technology has changed drastically since and, while it has had many positive effects, it has also had some negative ones. Like a child’s ability to look on the Internet and find illicit materials, or see what kinds of paints or glues would be best to get high off of.
Red Ribbon Week can no longer only involve peer pressure and parental intervention. Both of those things are crucial, but children need to be informed (and parents too) of the many directions that the pressure can come from. Facebook, for instance, is a tool that could be easily used to connect people with strangers. On Facebook, you could emphasize steering clear of people who your children don’t know trying to friend you. A child’s parents could be made aware of how Facebook works and maybe even friend them on the system so they can keep an eye out without necessarily seeming to. Part of your goal should be to educate children on avoiding suspicious people online. Teaching kids (and their parents) about chat rooms, social networking, and keeping their information private can be incredibly important to a child’s safety.
Preventing drug use in children is more complicated than it used to be. Red Ribbon Week should cover both traditional peer pressure and drug facts as well as new technology in order to be effective in this day and age. The messages of Red Ribbon Week are too important not to take seriously. From parents to teachers, when adults teach children the importance of Red Ribbon Week, they can teach lessons that will last a lifetime.
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