Hi all,
It's time to go a little deeper again, and it's Sunday, so a perfect day to reflect on things.
Yesterday's drama resulting from another Steemit user's comment made me think a lot about how to approach my future child's relationship with social media, a topic which is on my mind quite often in this era of constant self-inflicted internet spotlight. I'm not naming her here to avoid "tagging" her, but if you want to check out the full drama, the original post can be found here. Make sure to bring your popcorn while reading the comment section lol.
For those too lazy to browse through, I'll explain it briefly. Her account is a mother-daughter joint account, the daughter in question being 11. In this Bernie post in which he asks what people are currently doing, she published a photo of her naked legs in a bath tub. While the picture is not vulgar per se, it is very suggestive in a sexual manner. People lost their shit over it because it is very confusing! Whose legs are these? Hers or her daughters? Maybe the confusion was meant to be...who knows.
If they are hers, why show them on a joint Twitter account which has her daughter's face as profile pic?
You see the issue here. There are so many perverts in this world, and the comments under the pic on Twitter (and some on Steemit) aren't so harmless either.
Here you can see how it gets totally confusing. The guy compliments the 11 year old, yet the mom answers. A guy complimenting an 11 year old like that should probably not be taken that lightly, and personally, it creeps me out!
There were other comments that sent chills down my spine. Some other perv on Twitter even says I want a relation with you to which she rersponds oh you so silly, acting as if the compliment was meant for the mom, but actually directed to the daughter.
...._Silly? If that was my daughter he's talking about I would hunt him down and beat the shit out of him silly!
I totally understand people's outrage about this young teen's vulnerability on the internet, and since motherhood is only 3 months away for me, I have to seriously make a plan of how I want to approach my own son's relationship with social media. Some may say you still have a lot of time for that, but I disagree!
Kids don't really get to decide whether they WANT to be on social media, nor do they understand the consequences of it. We may find it harmless to publish cute mom and daughter baby pictures on Facebook or Instagram, but again...
Are we providing material for pervs, who, from the safety of their home can get off on viewing your naked child on the beach?
Do we really want to make sure that facial recognition programs can have access to our kids' data, as early as since the day they were born?
One of my closest friends found a nice middle ground. She's a photographer and posts quite a lot of pictures of her and her now 8 year old son, however, she makes sure that his face is never fully visible. He's always either taken from the back side, or from an angle which hides his facial features. It's so subtle that you wouldn't even notice it unless she told you. I admit I really like this approach, because of course nowadays every parent likes to share what their doing online to some extent, and I'm no exception. I may adopt this approach as well.
Other moms I know are so proud of their progeniture that they post pictures of their babies / toddlers every single day. I understand the temptation, and I'm sure I will also have a hey look what I've produced type of urge once my son is born, but again, I'm wondering how potentially dangerous this could be.
I believe that I have to respect my son's anonymity, at least until he's old enough to decide what he wants to do with it. Surely once he's in highschool, he will have his own Facebook and Instagram page (a thought which already makes me sick!), but until then, embarrassing baby pics which may lead to bullying along the way, or worse, should not be available to the public without his consent.
I also don't want to teach my son that selfie cult so many kids (and adults!) are a part of nowadays. I'm actually glad that I don't have a daughter (no offense to all of you parents with daughters!), but I would hate to having to explain why making duck faces and using "cute" or "sexy" filters which make you look older by adding makeup and deform your features will not actually help you be more popular in reallife. Of course, I actually face the opposite challenge. I have to raise a man who will respect women, and who will not take advantage of an online-attention seeking adolescent.