Sharing Too Much Online – Where Did Our Boundaries Go?

Privacy is something that has been slipping away over the years thanks to social media. Some people will share their whole lives on whatever social media platform they use. It's scary when you think about how open we have become online. Where has our privacy gone?

The recent sexting ring that was uncovered at Newtown High School (see Danbury News Times) really got me thinking about how much is put online. And the scary thing is, this is not the first incident of high school kids being involved in something like this.

Information is available at our fingertips and there is little work put into finding that information. I think the fact that everyone is so open online and people don't think twice about putting themselves (or their kids) on sites like YouTube shows that privacy boundaries are not really there anymore.

I come from a generation that can still remember the time before chat rooms, Googling, IMDB, Wikipedia, and auto correct. If we were trying to remember the name of an actor from a movie, we had to wait until we remembered it. If we wanted to make sure that things were spelled correctly, we had to know how to spell or grab the dictionary (no, not dictionary.com and actually book with words and definitions in it). If we wanted information for a report we were writing, we had to go to the library.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to the human psyche and this is definitely an opinion piece with some helpful links, but it really seems that as social media grew people's boundaries with their privacy shrank. I see things that some younger family members put on Facebook or Instagram and I have to wonder if they realize that once it's out there it's out there.

There is no "deleting" from the internet. Yes, you can delete something from your page, but if someone downloads it (as you can do with any image on pretty much any social media platform) then other people have a copy of your picture. If there is no way to download or save the image then people can just screen shot your image. It's very easy and takes less than a second.

Justice.gov has some good tips on keeping you and your family safe online. Make sure kids know the dangers of the photos they post online. This is posted on FBI.gov under "Risks":

Once information is posted to a social networking site, it is no longer private.  The more information you post, the more vulnerable you may become.  Even when using high security settings, friends or websites may inadvertently leak your information. 

I realizes that this post sounds like it is written by some parent, but that's because I am a parent. I think about the future now. I remember high school and we didn't usually think much past what we were doing that weekend.

All I can say is that I am glad that social media wasn't around when I was in high school. There was enough drama that happened in school, it didn't need to follow us home.

My biggest "scandal" was getting in trouble for "smoking" in the backroom of the gym. We were not actually smoking, so I always say we got suspended for not smoking. My friend and I were both suspended because we refused to go to school on a Saturday to work, as punishment for something that we didn't do. I maintain my innocence to this day.

What you put online will follow you and now these 20+ kids will have this follow them. I can only imagine how their parents feel and before you pass judgement, think about how often you listened to your parents about anything when you were in high school.

Please be mindful of your privacy. PSA over.

Listen to Liz Kaye weekdays from 10-2 on 105.5 FM, online at kicks1055.com/listen-live/ or by downloading the radioPup app for your mobile device.