Lately, as I have been pondering parenthood, an idea for an interesting project has been on my mind. I know I'm probably not the first person to think about it, and I'm not a sociologist or psychologist, so I probably don't have the training to really do this, but hey, at least I can wonder. We live in a society where our children's lives are documented from the day they are born. I have many friends on facebook who fill their page with thousands of pictures of their child, starting from the day of their birth and onward into the toddler stage, and eventually, probably their teenage years, etc. There are blogs out there that focus in detail on the child's development, illnesses, and even...bowel movements! My question is, what will this do to them? When they are old enough to realize what their parents have broad casted on the web for all the world to see, what will they think? What will they do? Will they want to to do the same with their children someday?
My early and untrained assessment is that this will not necessarily be a good thing and might have psychological and social repercussions.
I want someone to do a 20 year study about a child's life with regards to how he/she responds to the documented life that is available on the internet. I want to see what the findings would be, and decide if this is just a normal thing that happens in our society now or something that should be stopped?
I know that we are proud of our kids. We worry about our kids. We think our kids are cute. I even take pictures and write about my four legged child. But I think that parents need to think long and hard before every second of their child's life is on the web for anyone to see, and will remain there for countless years to come, even as the child grows into a consenting adult. I don't think we mean any harm, but we might be putting our future generations in danger.
Just something to think about.
Thinking about Protocol Droids
1 week ago
2 comments:
Good question. Is this phenomenon (of which I and my family are certainly a part) a thing unto itself or part of the larger movement of increased exposure through social media? I think the answer will largely depend on whether people in 15 years cultivate such active online personas, or if the moment we are living in is so unique as to be baffling to the next generation.
I think these are great questions to be asking. This is really the first generation where such documentation is possible, and we have no idea what the repercussions will be.
I also wonder/worry about the kids whose lives have been televised (i.e. Jon and Kate Plus 8, 19 Kids and Counting, etc.).
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