As summer holidays come to their end, a popular “trend” will start to make the rounds on social media. Over the next few weeks social platforms will be a wash with pictures of children on their way to (and in some instances from) their first day of school. It doesn’t take a lot to see that parents love sharing this kind of information.
- “Doesn’t Achilles look amazing in their uniform? First day of school, So EXCITED!”
- “I can’t believe Medusa turns 10 today”
- “40 weeks seemed to fly by! It was tough but Hera is here.”
- “Hercules scored again this week, so proud”
- “Athena and her first pet Owl ‘Polias’. “
As adorable as it is to see these new generations conquer countless feats, are we compromising their security later in life?
Blah, blah, nostalgia
As someone born in the late 80’s, personal computing was not a corner stone of my childhood. A single computer in a household was rare, digital cameras were expensive, and the landline was the quickest method of communication.
The internet was popularized in my lifetime. As a teenager, I was there during the early social media wars. Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and more were all vying to be the main social platform. Regardless of who won, this was a massive step forward in communication and sharing of personal information. Teenagers were predominantly at the helm and we fell hard into sharing more and more about our lives online. These teens are now adults and, quite frankly, use these services in the same way they did all those years ago with little concern for what is being shared.
The reason for this small trip down nostalgia boulevard is to demonstrate that, as a young(ish) adult, it is very difficult to find digital information about me as a before I was a teenager. This is because the digital age just wasn’t prevalent before I was 13. There are no pictures of me in my uniform, or cuddling my first dog, or even a picture of me wrapped in a swaddle in a cute little hat still barely able to open my eyes.
“Cake or Death?”
Because social media just wasn’t a thing when I was born, as an adult I get to chose what information about myself I want to share. I have freedom of choice to share this information if I wish.
“You!!! Cake or Death?”
“… I’ll have the cake please”
“Very well! It’s a popular choice today.”
Younger generations don’t seem to get this option however. The generation before them has made this choice for them. And it has always reminded me of the Eddie (Suzy) Izzard bit…
“How about you?! Cake or Death?”
“I’ll take the cake too please”
“Well were all out of Cake!?
“So my choice is “..or death?””
Sharing pictures of your child removes part of their choice later in life. We all have embarrassing childhood photos, most of which usually make a singular appearance when we achieve a milestone age. But 364 days out of the year they are hidden away somewhere.
There is a whole-nother field of study (that I have no expertise to comment on) surrounding the impact of sharing so much information about our children could have on them mentally.
For me however, I’m concerned about their security. Identity theft and fraud are all too easy when someone voluntarily gives information away. Is that not what we are doing to our children?
The adorable picture of them in their uniform ready for their first day of school.
Hackers will now know the Year they went to school, and most likely what school they went to.
The birthday post you make every year about how much they have grown.
Hackers will now know their Date of Birth
The “Mum and baby both doing well” announcement.
Hackers could figure out what hospital the child was born in
The exceeding at sports/activities posts
Hackers will know what club or activities the child is part of
The cute cuddling their pet picture
Hackers now might know the name of the child’s first pet
Hopefully some of you have spotted the pitfalls already, but if you haven’t these are typically the answers required to be authorized for bank accounts, mobile phone contracts, and credit cards!
Not only are we removing a child’s choice in what they want to share (when at an age deemed appropriate) but we are also just freely giving away every tiny piece of information that adults have to use regularly.
Unfortunately it is security that will be forced to change (if it isn’t already) because sadly there is an entire 2 decades of this information already shared. How have you seen this change? Or have we ruined it for our children already?
The Art of Network Engineering 