[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”56001″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Is there anyone who has a child or a grandchild who has not seen or posted a digital image of this child on Facebook, Instagram or the like? My mother’s refrain, it sure wasn’t like that when I grew up (she walked up-hill both was to school), is apropos, and it drives home the point that times have indeed changed.

Let’s step back and then step forward. I was ten years old, living in Bangkok, Thailand, thousands of miles away from my grandparents and days if not weeks from seeing any picture taken with the family camera, let alone sharing that photo with others. Interaction with our grandparents, aunts and uncles was confined to expensive long-distance phone calls and written correspondence.

Grandparents, family elders and tagging photos

Receiving that card or letter from distant family was a big deal. Truly, is there a more important ingredient in our global societies and cultures than those provided by grandparents and family elders and their life’s lessons passed on to the future generations? I don’t think so. Though I never met my father’s parents — they had passed a few years prior to my arrival on this planet — that doesn’t mean they weren’t influential. Their life lessons were shared indirectly through the recollections of my father, the eldest of 11, and annotated photos.

Similarly, my mother’s father passed away during my early teens, while her mother reigned as the matriarch over her family of nine in truly noble style for 20+ years. She used to say she and Rose Kennedy had much in common; both were iron-backboned New Englanders with nine children, then she’d laugh and go back to washing the laundry. Her willingness to share family lore was always accentuated by the annotated photographs accompanied by the many tales, both true and tall, which put those photos in context.

Senior Online Safety - Christopher Burgess
Christopher Burgess Age 10

When growing up, my family’s memories were memorialized in journals, diaries, news clippings and photo albums, which were often pulled out and shared when visits occurred. Photos shared through the mail were often group family shots (and with size of my parents respective families panoramic photography was a requirement at family reunions) or the yearly school picture of the grandchildren, annotated of course: “Christopher, Grade 5.” If you could afford it, a moving-picture camera might find its way into your family’s hands, and a treasure trove of 8-millimeter reels containing your childhood antics would be collected. Visits were then accentuated by an hour of film and slides and perhaps that school photo handed to you on the way out the door.

This is how memories were shared with family and friends since the mid-19th through the 20th century. (in my home, scrapbooking is alive and well). Now fast forward to 2015.  Photos and videos are captured by the thousands. These photos and videos are then shared via social networks, digital photo frames, compact disks, USB drives, email, and online photo services. Annotation of photos has never been easier; no need to write on the back of the 3×5 glossy, we can caption the photo digitally and engage in tagging photos en masse. Look how easy it is to load that photo up to Facebook, Instagram or any other social network – the social network even prompts you for name, location and date. All is memorialized.

Nirvana; no longer does distant family have to wait for the mail to arrive to see photos of the new infant grandchild, or Johnny in his first baseball uniform, or Sally in her ballet tutu, or Kathy’s first horseback ride, etc. These memories are now captured, annotated and posted within seconds of occurring.

Enter the dark side amidst the euphoria of photo tagging

It is here where I urge caution amidst the euphoria of vicariously enjoying the experiences of your child or grandchildren.

You see, my grandparents and my children’s grandparents prior to 2000 could be reasonably assured the only individuals who saw our pictures and associate our names to the photos were those whom they personally and individually shared the picture. Yes there existed photos which others captured at school or at events covered by the local paper. Today everyone can take the photo and within seconds of it having been taken it is tagged, posted, shared and reshared far and wide to their friends, both physical and virtual.

Whom am I allowing to have access to this photo and information? 

Take a moment and understand how your photos are being shared.

When you take your child or grand children to the park, do you put a coat on them with their name and address printed on the back in six-inch type for all to read? Doubtful. But this is precisely what is happening thousands of times a day as photos of our children are posted to the various social networks.

When you post your grandchild’s photo and annotate or tag the photo with their name and location, take one more step and ask yourself: “Whom am I allowing to have access to this photo and information?” If the answer is, “I don’t know,” then take a moment and learn how to set privacy and access controls on every picture of your children or grandchildren you post. A bit of self-education is in order — trust me, your grandchildren are worthy of the investment.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]

Tips on taking and tagging photos of your children to protect their identity:

  1. No pictures which has them wearing a name tag
  2. No pictures which includes your home address (even the number on the house or building)
  3. No pictures which includes the license plate of your family automobile
  4. No pictures of the name or identifying data on the location where your child plays sports, takes ballet or music, etc.
  5. No pictures which include your child’s school name or location
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]Facebook has clear instructions within their Help section on how to control your settings.

Facebook help page

Senior Online Safety - Facebook Photo Tagging settings[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/oRdviemccZ8″ title=”Video – Online Safety Tip (1.5 min)”][vc_empty_space][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

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