There is a fundamental difference between sharing publicly vs. privately on social media.
I will ruffle some feathers on this one. However, my intent is to raise awareness and to educate. I think many genuinely don’t understand the consequences a public post can have even on a “so-called” family, friendly community platform. Many don’t even realize that their posts can be viewed publicly by anyone.
What used to be social networking sites at their onset, have now morphed into 95% media/entertainment and advertising content and only 5% community of family, friends. And this change in recent years is where the most consequence lies. For many, the occasional post on social media of an important family moment within their private network is inconsequential. Like me, you personally know the “friends” you have connected with on Facebook and any post made privately to this group will have little future impact.
When you open up your personal group (network) to virtually anyone by accepting connection requests or followers from people you don’t know and publicly posting that important family moment, it has far greater reach that will expose kids in ways you have not considered. What once was the occasional family post shared has now morphed into more of a rivalry to keep up with other parents’ posts that you may not have ever seen if it was only posted to a private group of family/friends. This need for “reach” to as many people as possible is not only driven by the likes/loves and comments/accolades received but also by the expansion of products and services being sold through a person’s social media account and presence.
Earlier this week in my LinkedIn feed, a professional, high-credentialed woman shared a picture of her and her early teen daughter attempting to make light of the emotional moment dropping her off at camp. Her words to her daughter and the caption of the photo, “Have fun, be safe and boys are stupid,” accompanied by a smiley face. I get this is tongue-in-cheek, but it made me cringe. Words can be flippant but when combined with a visual picture on a very public platform, it becomes more consequential.
LinkedIn – all posted content is public. It can be searched, tagged, shared and can often appear multiple times in your feed. Or a post by someone you are not connected to is recirculated to your feed when someone in your network reacts to or comments on their post. This is especially true when the volume of posted content is down and they need something to fill up your feed.
Facebook / Instagram – Facebook has set-up a tutorial to walk you through the settings to limit what information and what you post publicly. Instagram now defaults to private but can be set to public in the settings.
Deutsche Telekom is trying to raise awareness of the responsible handling of photos and data online with their “ShareWithCare” campaign primarily in Germany and Europe. As of last year, they own a 50.6% stake of T-Mobile in the US. This video stages and exaggerates a social experiment that could have taken place in the same form – because the technology for it has long been available. Ella is representative of an entire generation of children.
Look-up Mark Zuckerberg’s (founder of Meta – Facebook/Instagram) public Facebook page and scroll through his posts. He and his wife post pictures of their kids but from interesting angles, most not showing their faces and when the photo does, they are edited over with a smiley face. In Q1 2024 alone, Meta removed 631 million fake accounts, a number that has significantly decreased from the billions of accounts removed quarterly over the last 5 years. Meta Removes 63,000 Instagram Accounts in Nigeria Over Sextortion – Techopedia
Limit your child’s digital footprint. Share highly personal information and photos privately or in a private Facebook family/friend group. Update your privacy settings. Use the litmus test, would you share it on a holiday card to your boss and coworkers? Keep your inner circle tight much like you do in IRL (in real life.)
What is Sharenting And Is It Bad? – Ashburn Psychological and. Psychiatric Services
Parents’ Social Media Habits: 2021 | Security.org
What Parents May Not Realize When They Post About Their Kids Online | Iowa Public Radio