When we first began to have children we took pictures....selectively. Picture taking was an expensive proposition back in 1986. You had to pay for the film and the developing. If you had a bad picture that was your bad luck (or poor photography skills). Many of the pictures I took back then are now faded and most of them are bad (okay, yes, I have poor photography skills....those skills all went to my sister)
In 1995 or 1996 you could begin buying digital cameras which allowed one to take a picture, immediately look at it and delete it if it was bad. Then, everyone got phones that could take pictures so there were even more pictures. Now, we have phones that are really mini-computers that allow us to take a picture and instantly share it with our "friends" around the world via social media. There are lots of really nice things about this arrangement. I want to talk about one of the really bad things.
Not every picture we take should be taken and certainly not every picture we take should be shared. In my work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster kids, I went to a seminar for continuing education. One part of that seminar was spent listening to two men from the District Attorneys office discuss Internet safety. The quote that stuck out for me? "Always assume that bad people are looking when you post anything to social media". Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Reddit, Snapchat....all of it (and maybe you've never heard of some of those) is dangerous. Your selfie of you and your bestie can be sent around the world in seconds and seen by millions. AND, once it's out there you can never, ever, ever get it back. It's public.....for reals!
This leads me (finally) to the point of this blog. Why would anyone put out an embarrassing picture of their kid? You've seen it, I know you have....the kid half naked, the kid with a goofy face, the kid in a funny outfit, the kid doing something embarrassing, etc. Sometimes people just aren't thinking about who's out there looking. When you live a clean life and don't hang out with perverts you don't consider that the naked picture of your kid may be some person's ugly fantasy. And, yes, I understand that any picture is fodder for someone ugly fantasy so you could overreact and never put a picture of your child on the 'net but then you would deprive Grandma of her joy.
Just be cautious. That's all I'm saying. Be careful. Look at the picture or video and ask yourself two important questions. One, is this picture/video clean and wholesome for public consumption? And, two, will my child hate me for posting this when he or she is 14? If you can answer "yep" to the first and "nope" to the second then post away. I'll probably "like" it and maybe comment.
Parent overshare can be somewhat of an issue on Facebook (for more information on this phenom go to the blog "STFU, Parents"....google it, it's hilarious, but I'm warning you right now that the language is bad on the website....funny stuff/bad language). All I'm asking is that you consider what you're sharing and don't share what shouldn't be shared. Thanks for your attention. If you'll excuse me I must get back to posting even more pictures of my daughters wedding.......
Not every picture we take should be taken and certainly not every picture we take should be shared. In my work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster kids, I went to a seminar for continuing education. One part of that seminar was spent listening to two men from the District Attorneys office discuss Internet safety. The quote that stuck out for me? "Always assume that bad people are looking when you post anything to social media". Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest, Twitter, Blogs, YouTube, Reddit, Snapchat....all of it (and maybe you've never heard of some of those) is dangerous. Your selfie of you and your bestie can be sent around the world in seconds and seen by millions. AND, once it's out there you can never, ever, ever get it back. It's public.....for reals!
This leads me (finally) to the point of this blog. Why would anyone put out an embarrassing picture of their kid? You've seen it, I know you have....the kid half naked, the kid with a goofy face, the kid in a funny outfit, the kid doing something embarrassing, etc. Sometimes people just aren't thinking about who's out there looking. When you live a clean life and don't hang out with perverts you don't consider that the naked picture of your kid may be some person's ugly fantasy. And, yes, I understand that any picture is fodder for someone ugly fantasy so you could overreact and never put a picture of your child on the 'net but then you would deprive Grandma of her joy.
Just be cautious. That's all I'm saying. Be careful. Look at the picture or video and ask yourself two important questions. One, is this picture/video clean and wholesome for public consumption? And, two, will my child hate me for posting this when he or she is 14? If you can answer "yep" to the first and "nope" to the second then post away. I'll probably "like" it and maybe comment.
Parent overshare can be somewhat of an issue on Facebook (for more information on this phenom go to the blog "STFU, Parents"....google it, it's hilarious, but I'm warning you right now that the language is bad on the website....funny stuff/bad language). All I'm asking is that you consider what you're sharing and don't share what shouldn't be shared. Thanks for your attention. If you'll excuse me I must get back to posting even more pictures of my daughters wedding.......
No comments:
Post a Comment