Rethinking My Daughters' Digital Footprints

Last night I was able to stay awake and listen to the Technlandia podcast LIVE. That's the kinda thing that happens on Christmas break when your sleeping schedule is completely OFF. Stay awake until all hours of the night and sleep in. It's awesome! Anyway......

Amber Teamann (@8Amber8 on twitter) shared her behind the scenes thinking for posting pictures of her children online. She posts pics of her 3 yr. old but you don't see much of her older daughter. She mentioned how her older child is entering the age of developing her own digital footprint. How much does your child want his/her footprint tied to yours and yours to his/hers?

Background info: My child attends the school where I am the principal. Seems like lots of people/parents/students/teachers are interested in seeing what I post:)

Who sees pictures you post? Are all your accounts public or private? Doesn't really matter. Nothing is private on the internet. It's just a screenshot away from being public info. What if I post a picture of my child that I think is cute or funny and her classmates sees it? You know, I never thought of it that way. My youngest daughter is super funny, creative, independent, and of course has no fashion sense. So I think it's cute to post pictures of her at her funniest moments.

Set the scene: Here's how I see this playing out......

5 year olds are obviously not creating Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. But their parents have them. Have you seen a picture of a cute kid or someone's kid you know and say, "Awwww come look how cute Cassidy is." Then you read what the person posted it says, "Another fashion faux pas by Thing 2, Miss Cassidy." Everyone giggles and laughs and you move on with your day.

Fast forward to the next school day.........

Now this student notices that my child's clothes don't match or hair is crazy or whatever it is. I just gave this student or any student ammunition to make fun of my child. I can honestly say I never thought of it that way. It can be a cruel world for children.

My new thinking............

I have always looked at the surroundings in pictures that I post. Or at last I try to. I don't want the whole world to see the mountain of laundry piled on my couch behind my two cute smiling children on Instagram.  (In the picture above the laundry pile is as high as the bed so I cropped that out. LOL!) Now I will think twice and analyze what and why I am posting a specific picture.

So thank you Amber! You challenge my thinking and help me think from a different perspective.
Amber blogs at "Technically Teamann." You can find her on twitter at @8Amber8