Back-to-school season is almost upon us, and it’s possible that soon your social media feed will be full of pictures of your friends’ kids heading back to class.
Maybe you’ve even posted them.
But one child safety advocate wants to make sure you’re not sharing too much information in your photo — possibly jeopardizing your kids’ well-being.
According to Chris McKenna, founder of Protect Young Eyes, posting a photo of your child standing in front of a school bus with the name of the school visible, you’re essentially telling people where to find your child.
“When it comes to parents and the amount of information we share about our families, there’s always this tension that exists that social media wants you to brag and through that bragging you receive likes and comments and more friends,” McKenna told FOX17.
By the time a child is 2 years old, 90% of them already have a social media presence, McKenna said.
“We have a whole generation of young people who are going to become adults someday, who are going to have a social media footprint that they had no say in what their parents posted about them,” McKenna noted.
One way to prevent oversharing, McKenna said, is to make sure to check your privacy settings on social media platforms.
But the best policy, according to McKenna, is to just not share as much as you currently do.
In fact, McKenna has five questions parents should ask themselves about web privacy:
- When my children become adults, will they appreciate every photo I’ve posted of their life and every hashtag I’ve used in those photos? (If not, then be more selective.)
- Is there something selfish in me that uses pictures of my children to get personal attention? (If so, then change your behavior.)
- Do my kids constantly see me taking pictures of them and posting them online? (If so, then I’m not modeling the right digital behavior.)
- Have I recently performed an audit of the privacy settings on my devices? (If not, then go here to find out how you do it.)
- Have I recently performed an audit of my child’s devices? (If not, then do it now!)
