Oversharing

How do we know when we are sharing too much information? How far is too far? This becomes a major concern especially when considering children. Obviously, kids do not have a right to their own privacy when they are very young. However, should it be completely up to the parents to decide if their child’s life is entirely private or not? Concerns about safety also come into question. How do you know that the pictures you post are only viewed by the people you share them with? You don’t. Anyone can get access to these pictures even if you don’t think they can. For example, I follow a girl I went to high school with on Instagram. She recently had a baby and she posts about her constantly. Not too long ago, her child started potty training. After the kid successfully used a toilet on her own, the mom enthusiastically posted about it on Instagram. Her picture included an actual photograph of the child’s pee!!! I was appalled. How could anyone sane enough post something like this on their social media for the world to see. Her caption was, “My bad@$$ baby peed in the potty at 14m old. #proudparent #omgmybabyisawesome.” I immediately took a screenshot and sent it to my friends to share with them how insane this post was. After doing that, I just gave my friends access to this girl’s pictures. Who knows if they shared the pictures with anyone else but this just goes to show how quickly social media posts can spread. Also, I did not want to see anyone's bodily fluids to show up on my feed!

Overall, we must decide how far is too far when sharing posts online especially if it concerns a child. Not only for “social” reasons (i.e. TMI) but for safety reasons as well. It is far better to be safe than sorry!