We all begin learning how to share and what the meaning of sharing is at the ripe age of toddler. Although, attempting to teach a toddler how to share always posses its inevitable challenges as everything to a toddler is, “mine.” None the less, as adults, we all clearly know how to share. I remember one of the first dates I ever had with my husband he told me, “sharing is caring”, and the saying has stuck with me since as being cute and sweet.
In the typical sense, sharing shows love, friendship and loyalty. But, when is sharing not caring? And when is it violating our privacy? Thanks to technology and social media, we can essentially share anything and everything with one click of a button. We can share our thoughts, our pictures, videos. When we share our own information, it seems harmless and fun, right? But what about when other people share that information?
There are several ways to look at this topic. I’m going to use Facebook as my main social media example because let’s be honest, if you don’t have a Facebook page or use it daily then you’re seriously behind the times. Facebook is continuously asking us to update our personal information and is monitoring what we post and share. Why? Because they take the information we share and “re-share” it with marketers and advertisers. Have you ever wondered why all those ads on the side of your profile page or in your Gmail account seem so perfectly catered to what’s going on in your life? The reason is because behind the scenes at Facebook, they’re monitoring and selling our information; it’s how they make money. I think most people know and understand that essentially nothing on the Internet is private or “safe.” And if you didn’t know that before, than you should definitely know that now.
Beyond what happens on Facebook with our information being sold off and shared, something that bothers me even a little bit more is the actual “share” button. On any given post we can like, comment, follow or unfollow and share. Last year my sister-in-law made a comment to me that it made her feel uncomfortable that there were a few people “sharing” pictures she had posted on her own page of her son. She asked me how to disable that because it made her uncomfortable, but unfortunately, disabling that feature is not an option. She shares very few pictures of my nephew because of this. Since that discussion, I too have had a few people “share” posts of mine. I immediately felt the same angst and frustration when someone shared a personal video I had posted of myself. When we share something (a status update, a video, pictures etc), it is shared with our set of friends; the people WE know and the people WE choose to share it with. But when someone else clicks that “share” button, they just shared that post, whatever it may, with a whole other set of people that we don’t know. And who’s to stop those people from sharing it? Now, I don’t care if someone shares a link to a website, music video or funny e-card I post; however, I’m not OK with anyone sharing personal pictures and videos of myself and my family. I wasn’t asked if the video could be shared or even warned it would be shared, it was just done.
This got me thinking a lot about the hundreds of pictures (yes hundreds!) I have posted of other people. I finally “got” why my dad has always told me he didn’t like when I posted pictures of my younger sisters. He always said, “I know you love them and want to show them off, but they’re not your kids and I don’t want them plastered all over Facebook.” Personally, I always thought he was being a bit paranoid and ridiculous, but now I get it. Even as an adult, I’ve learned that parents do actually know what they’re talking about from time to time. And in fact, I get what my dad was saying so much so that it makes me incredibly reluctant to share pictures of my daughter once she is born. I don’t want other people sharing boatloads of pictures of her either. I don’t know their “Facebook friends”, so why would I want my daughter on their page? Sadly, the world we live in isn’t always the safest place. Just recently there was an entire segment on the news about how pedophiles are using Facebook to stalk children. When someone “shares” a picture of their baby sleeping soundly and beautifully in their crib, if the “location” is enabled on their phone, it can be tapped into and tracked to the exact spot of that child. This is beyond scary to me. So while I know I’ll want to post pictures of my daughter left and right, when it comes down to it, protecting not only her privacy but her safety seems far more important than receiving 100 comments and likes on some cute picture, doesn’t it?
Whether we choose not post any pictures, maybe just one, or thousands, this topic really got my wheels turning. Don’t get me wrong, I always love seeing pictures from my family and friends and I equally love posting pictures of my own. But, I have a lot to think about between now and the time our baby girl arrives and whether or not I really want to share her with Facebook and the world. Regardless of how you feel about it, the next time you want to share someone else’s personal pictures or video, you may want to at least ask their permission first!
~SLP