Orginally posted 5/13/2019

Taylor Lorenz at The Atlantic writes about how tweens start to learn about the digital footprint their parents have created for them when they post images on social media.

When Ellen, an 11-year-old, finally decided to Google herself, she didn’t expect to find anything, because she doesn’t yet have her own social-media accounts. She was stunned when she found years of swim scores and sports statistics on the web. A personal story she wrote in third grade was also published on a class website with her name attached. “I didn’t think I would be out there like this on the internet,” she told me.

Ellen said that while she didn’t find anything too sensitive or personal, she was frustrated that all the information about herself had been posted seemingly without her consent.

Teachers talk about the importance of students creating a positive digital footprint online. As kids get older parents should explain what they are sharing and why they are sharing it. Kids should also be able to approve the content that parents are sharing of them online.

Updated 5/25/2019

The Atlantic created a YouTube video about their article. You can view the YouTube video below.

Source: The Atlantic; YouTube

Photo: Pixabay / Pexels