When I was growing up, my parents would often embarrass me in front of future ex-girlfriends as well as my friends by pulling out photo albums compiled of photos from my early childhood.
In those days, candid pictures, weird faces and random acts of silliness were captured in all of their awkwardness. Preserved if you will for parents to share in a brag book or album in the privacy of their own homes.
Fast forward to today. We live in an age where we are connected to the Web nearly every waking hour and our photos are instantly shared on the Internet on sites like Facebook and Instagram. The big photo albums of the past have transitioned to digital identities tied to user handles or profiles.
when my parents say embarrassing things about me to my friends pic.twitter.com/JTGwHZb8CI
— Ouat Reactions (@ouatreactions) September 30, 2015
As a social media professional (and dad) who spends a lot of time within social networks, I often sit mouth agape at how much cooler people make themselves online and also how we’re setting up our children for torment later in their lives.
At their core, social media sites have made it easy to share our lives, moments and memories with our intimate networks. The downside is that with sharing as easy as it is, we humans don’t take that second to think about who we are really sharing with.
Always embarrassing when your parents share each other’s posts about you