An alum of St. Rose of Lima School, PLDW Partner Brian J. Lamoureux, will be returning to his alma mater to share his “Cyberbullying and Technology: What Parents Need to Know” presentation on Wednesday, November 18.

Lamoureux, graduated St. Rose’s 8th grade in 1986, and has since become an expert on social media law and nationally as an authority on the topic.

He has presented across the country to not only Fortune 150+ executives, but also to schoolchildren and parent groups. He has published articles on the subject and has been a commentator on the subject for WPRI-TV, NBC10 and NECN-TV, the nation’s largest 24-hour regional news network.

Cyberbullying is an increasing issue according to Lamoureux, one that is universal spanning across all races and socioeconomic standing.

Although Principal Kim Izzi, who reached out to Lamoureux this spring, doesn’t see cyberbullying is a big issue in her own school, she believes it is something parents and teachers need to be aware of, an issue they should get ahead of.

“This is an important topic in this day and age where children are growing up surrounded by so much technology,” Izzi said. “They often know how to use it better than their parents, but don’t always understand the consequences or the dangers of what they do online.”

In a study conducted by the Cyberbullying Research Center, 34 percent of students being the victims of cyberbullying with 15 percent admitting to bullying others over the Internet.

“Kids today are facing a silent bullying one that is invisible to teachers and parents,” he said. “Before if you were being bullied you would come home with a black eye or a bloody lip. Now you can have a kid being bullied and no one will know.”

Without parents and teacher understanding what children may be experiencing online, those individuals who are being victimized are forced to deal with their bullying “internally and alone.”

Similarly, because many of these online attacks can be made anonymously, children struggle with a fear of not knowing whom their friends and enemies are or “just who is back stabbing them.”

Another concern is that parents are being sued for what their children have posted online, the argument being parents aren’t doing enough to manage their children’s behavior online.

“They have a responsibility for their child,” Lamoureux said. “They wouldn’t let their kid go into someone else’s house and beat a kid up and they shouldn’t let them sit in their room and mentally bully and degrade another kid.”

Those things students are posting online are also saved forever on the Internet, following children for the rest of their lives.

“Mistakes become permanent,” he said.

In his presentation, Lamoureux will discuss ways parents can engage their children in a dialogue concerning their social media and Internet use.

He will also discuss new apps available to children that parents should be aware of. For example, there is an app that simply looks like a calculator, but if a correct pass code is entered on said calculator it opens up to be a secret photo stash.

The presentation will be interactive, and discussion based, Lamoureux open to questions from the audience.

The “Cyberbullying and Technology: What Parents Need to Know” presentation with be on Wednesday, November 18th beginning at 5:45 p.m. at the St. Rose of Lima School, 200 Brentwood Ave., Warwick and is only open to St. Rose of Lima parents and teachers.

For more information on cyberbullying visit cyberbullying.org.

For more information about Lamoureux or the topic of social media in the workplace visit www.pldw.com.