Parents – The Information Guardians
By: Ian Gillespie
I’ve had this particular issue stuck in my head for a while. The recent article by Steve McMaster discussing how we agreed to Facebook’s policies really pushed me to write this article. First, Steve is absolutely right in his argument – anyone who utilizes Facebook’s services has agreed to their terms and therefore has no right to complain about what Facebook does with their information. But this brings up another question – how do we handle the posting of information on a social networking site, such as Facebook, when it pertains to our kids?
I see it every day on my own Facebook account. Parents willfully and without warning posting countless picture of their kids – at the park, at home, with mom and dad, eating some ice cream – the list goes on and on. All very innocent and wonderful memories for the families involved, I’m sure. But this brings to mind the fact that there is a huge amount of responsibility on us as parents to be mindful of not only how we teach our kids to behave socially on a day to day level, but also how we utilize their information socially on a day to day level. What is meant by this?
It is up to us, as responsible parents, to decide whether or not it is appropriate for us to post information about them. It is our duty, I believe, to act in their best interest. I simply mean that the very act of posting images, videos or anything else of our kid’s lives (no matter how seemingly innocent) onto a social networking site carries with it a possible price.
Imagine, if you will, being a teenager of the future and you start searching the internet and decide to look yourself up on Google. Suddenly you stumble across countless pictures and videos of yourself as a kid that your parents posted of you on a social networking site. These images and videos are publicly available for all to see. They are now owned by some faceless organization that owns the right to every image of you as a child (remember your parents no longer own those images once they posted them to Facebook). How would you feel about this?
This is an open ended question and there is no absolute right answer. Different individuals will feel very differently about how they would react to this. Nonetheless, I think it’s very important to consider this question. To take a moment and think about the future and the data we willingly provide not only about ourselves, but others around us. I completely understand that I base a lot of this on my own personal feelings. A lot of what I say may have no weight with other individuals. Maybe the times are changing, maybe the veil of privacy is lifting and is truly a thing of the past. I cannot and do not speak for everyone. This article is meant simply to act as moment of pause and reflection of what we do as parents. To hopefully consider something we did not consider before.
Let me close with this – we do not and cannot know who will own the information we post to a social network in twenty or fifty years. Because of this fact, we must be Information Guardians for our kids. We must act responsibly on their behalf. Again, posting about ourselves is one thing – we carry with that our own responsibility. When we post about our kids, I believe it becomes something entirely different, something overflowing with responsibility. I think this is something that has not really been considered that much. So please, regardless of your choice on how to handle this, just take a moment and think about your kid(s) before clicking the ‘Post’ button.
PS – My wife and I have enacted a “no social networking policy” regarding our kid. We both considered the pros and cons and decided against posting any images or videos to Facebook or anywhere else. We completely understand we may not have 100% control over a relative possibly posting something, but as parents we are trying to do what we think is in our kid’s best interest. Again, it’s different for every parent out there. Good luck and godspeed with your own parenting.
