Facebook, Privacy, and Cyberbullying

I have mentioned in several other blogs some of the personal reasons why I have steered clear of Facebook, but in this blog I'd like to address the issue of privacy. There are several aspects of this to consider, the first of which is the Facebook privacy policy. This is a timely discussion considering the release for review of Facebook's most current privacy policy. Thanks to many complaints, Facebook has rewritten and revised its policy for the purpose of making it much shorter and clearer, though the effect is much the same as it has been. An article published in the Journal and Courier online magazine gives the highlights and its recommendations to users. Despite the uproar, I have found that the area in which users must be vigilant is being educated about how targeted advertising works. While it may seem naive or apathetic of me, I somehow feel a little better knowing that the primary purpose of all that data collection is to sell me stuff. Though I have certainly fallen prey to advertising, I am well-educated and able to recognize the practices. It seems then that education is the best defense. A 2010 study by Danah Boyd and Eszter Harittai looked at the privacy settings for Facebook users and found that their perception that younger users were not concerned about privacy was inaccurate, and that many users are aware of the issues and carefully manage their privacy settings. As has also been stated in an earlier post of mine, young people under the age of 30 are far less likely to use Facebook as their primary form of social networking. Of course, that does not mean that there are not similarly valid concerns about the other forms, including instagram, snapchat, and what's-app. Users can educate themselves using a variety of online sources that have very good information and recommendations that are written in plain English.

This leads, though, to another issue of concern, and that is the question of what happens to the children of the current generation growing up in such a digital, technical world. Just to convey one small aspect of this, I have a brief personal anecdote. When I got married in 1999, pocket sized film cameras were finally affordable for the average person. However, in fewer than five years, digital cameras also became  popular and affordable. When my first son was born in 2004, I had just purchased a somewhat bulky, but high quality digital camera. Gone were the days of carefully planning each shot because of the cost of film and developing. By the time my oldest son was 4 and my youngest was 2, I had taken over 10,000 photographs with that digital camera, the vast majority of them of my two children.  Along came the cell phone and no longer did I have to worry about having the camera with me to snap, snap, snap. They are now 10 and 8, and about three years ago, at their behest, I began taking far fewer pictures of them. In all, I have easily taken close to 20,000 pictures over the decade. Yes, I have a pretty amazing digital record of their childhood, yet, I sometimes wonder what the value is. Will they care that I have taken so many photographs of them? Does being the center of attention that way have an impact? I am not one who has gone on to post these countless images of them on Facebook and other social media, but it does beg the question of what it will mean to so many people whose entire lives have been documented online on services who lay ownership claim to those images just by their being posted. I currently have more than one student who has told me stories of not getting a job or accepted to a college program because of their online footprint. Will today's youth be happy that their baby photos are owned by Mark Zuckerberg?

Finally, I have done quite a bit of reading this past week about the issue of cyberbullying. Sometimes it seems that there is no end to the lengths we flawed human beings will go to be hateful and cruel to one another. The internet has provided an arena in which such cruelty can be perpetrated exponentially. And in eras past when bullies really had to be on the down low so as not to be found out by the adults in the vicinity, it seems that modern technology allows for a much more public humiliation - even though it is not in person. The research on this topic is abundant, and most of it reaches the same conclusions. The most important aspect in preventing and dealing with bullying that happens online (and, frankly, with most aspects of child-rearing in general and with digital aspects specifically) is parental involvement. Parents must not be apathetic about their children's use of digital media. They need to know what video games they are playing, what websites they are visiting, and parents should be monitoring the text messages, Facebook, email, and any other social media, sites/messages their children are sending and receiving. There are certainly those out there who want to use heavily loaded language such as "spying," "surveilling," and "tracking" to stimagatize parent's involvement in this aspect of their children's lives, but I contend that that is totally misjudging parents' rights and duty to their children's safety and well being. To use a parallel, I do not think that most parents would deny the extreme importance of watching children - even those who can swim - when they are in or around water. It is widely accepted that parents should not take for granted that their children will be safe. Likewise, we should adopt this same attitude with social media. I do not agree with parents who monitor their children's online activity surreptitiously; open and honest communication is at the heart of this matter. If every parent whose child uses digital media sat down on a regular basis (at least weekly) and went through their emails, text messages, instagrams, Facebook pages, and video games with them, much of the nonsense and damage that they produce could be avoided or stopped.
It is a parental responsibility to teach children how to navigate such situations. My children are still young, and I heavily regulate how much time they spend using their tablets; however, we sit down regularly and talk about the games they have on them. They show me what they are, how they are played, and we talk about what they like about each game. There are times when we talk about aspects that I find offensive or not appropriate and why. This helps them learn to make appropriate decisions. I read an article many years ago in which a mother discussed doing this with her teenaged son and daughter. They read Facebook pages together, discussed text messages/emails, and viewed photographs. It's not to say that children do not have "private" moments, but they can be taught that if they are embarrassed or ashamed of the comments or photos they or their friends are posting, then they might want to rethink who their friends are or what actions they are taking. If all parents did this, bullies would be stopped, and victims would be protected. It may seem or feel extreme, but it seems to me that safety concerns should be of extreme importance.
For a really great look at many of these issues, I urge you to check out the PBS program "Growing Up Digital."