15 Apr Youth and Social Media

You know you have it somewhere. Maybe it’s an old box, a photo album, a scrapbook your parent kept. But you have it, you know it. No one else does though. It’s in a box marked, “Only To Be Opened After I’m Deceased”. And in there is a picture of you as a baby; it’s 1979 and you’re in your mom’s arms at a roller disco. And now you’re posting that picture of you and your baby at some political rally on Facebook.
Mommy, What Is Social Media?
When your child asks one day, “What is social media?”, you will not want to answer, but just like a pet, social media isn’t just for today, it’s meant to stick around for awhile. Be careful what you post about your child while using social media. Facebook is used for college evaluations, employment, dating and who knows what else it will be used for in the future. Certainly, you can take stuff down, but to be effective you’ll need to create some social media policies for yourself – like how often do I purge, what kinds of things do I purge, do I archive?
This can get complicated. And one ever knows what may or may not be acceptable in the future. Children have a sense of embarrassment, and appropriateness from a young age. It might be the wisest policy to ask children, even as young as seven or eight if they want a particular picture posted, and once the initial comments have come in, to take the picture off of your social media blog, Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms.
And though it seems like it’s a chore to wade through old Facebook posts and Tweets today, it could save you a world of heartache in the future. It’s best to be careful, and selective, and ask if you’d want that picture you keep hidden in that box to be placed in social media for everyone to see.
For more information let me suggest the following article from Social Media Today.  The title alone scared me…..Warning: Your Facebook Posts May be Harmful to your Child’s Future.