Article: Ben Tracy Presents “Navigating Life in the Digital Age” as Virtual Presentation for Tampa Prep Freshmen
From an article on Tampa Preparatory School website…
On Wednesday, September 23, Tampa Prep freshmen learned how to avoid social media pitfalls from guest speaker Ben Tracy during his webinar “Navigating Life in the Digital Age.” The webinar was required for all ninth grade students as part of the digital citizenship unit of their Transitions course.
As a high school student, Ben Tracy made social media posts and comments that haunted him well into his adult years and cost him a high profile job. He has since made it his mission to share his experience with students at schools and colleges across the country, in the hopes he can prevent them from making the same mistake.
Tracy spoke of his personal story as well as about cyberbullying, sexting and how social media affects mental health. Tracy highlighted conversations he has had with college athletics coaches who admit that they don’t give scholarships to high school students who have made derogatory comments on their social media accounts. He asked students to “be more compassionate with one another” and encouraged them to consider whether they want to be a part of the problem on social media or part of the solution.
