Film 260

1. Policing or
Parenting?
How Social Media Surveillance
Has Changed Parenting As We
Know It
Photo: Matt Popovich 2016 via Unsplash By Charlotte Smith

2. It’s no secret that the Digital
Age is changing our lives. In
2015 it was found that:
Photo: João Silas 2016 via Unsplash
-68% of U.S. adults owned a smartphone [1]
-45% of U.S. adults own a tablet [1]
-Facebook had more than 1.4 billion users [2]
-65% of those were daily users [2]

3. And adults aren’t the only ones.
Photo: Elijah Henderson 2015 via Unsplash
-92% of teens report going online daily [3]
-24% report going online “constantly” [3]
-Nearly ¾ of teens have or have access to a smartphone [3]
-Facebook had 9.8 million users aged 13-17 in 2014 [4]
-75% of teens aged 13-17 have at least
one social media account [8] So much of life is now spent
online, so how do parents cope?

4. Some parents are diving in headfirst:
“Children leave a digital trail, and you feel
like a negligent parent if you're not
monitoring.” [5]
Photo: Thomas Lefebvre, 2014 via Unsplash

5. While others are more hesitant:
“All the boundaries have broken down. Facebook is constantly sending alerts of what
they're up to: liking and commenting and posting and sharing, like squirrels pecking away.
But when their mothers are reading, it's way too much information.” [5]
Photo: Luke Chesser, 2013 via Unsplash

6. Photo: Carlos Martinez, 2014 via Unsplash
Schools have begun to realize the demand for
programs that help parents understand and adapt
to their children’s digital lives.
MediaSmarts, a Canadian digital literacy organization, is one of
many that work in co-operation with schools across the country
to deliver social media workshops to both students and their
parents.
“We believe that active parental involvement is
essential to raising ‘media smart’ children and teens.”
[7]

7. Photo: Todd Quackenbush, 2014 via Unsplash
Some companies have begun to see the possibility in parents’ struggle with
technology: companies such as Uknow and Webroot Software Inc. provide tools
for parents to monitor and control their children’s online activities.
These tools
include:
GPS
tracking
Scanning the web
for more profiles
Reviewing any/all
posts, captions,
comments, replies,
etc.
Info on
when their
phone is
being used
Viewing what
sites they visit
Flagging risky
posts, people, activities
Translating
slang and text-lingo
[9]

8. Photo: Gili Benita, 2014 via Unsplash
Many experts warn, however,
that this Big Brother stance can
often cause children and their
parents to experience
a D I V I D E
‘Caroline Knorr, parenting editor at Common
Sense Media, says parents need to recognize
that kids "believe that their phones are sacred
and private." To her, parents who try to intrude
on that are setting up a "parent versus kid
situation, even for good kids who are not doing
anything wrong.“’ [10]

9. The
Issues
Photo: Seabass Creatives, 2016 via Unsplash

10. Photo: Sylwia Bartyzel, 2014 via Unsplash
The Breakdown
of Privacy
Where once, years ago, children’s
private lives would be left on the
streets, they are now in their hands.
This accessibility is enticing to
many parents, but is problematic.
Jen Nessel, a communications
coordinator for The Center for
Constitutional Rights in New York
says, "I think we're in a very
different world now where it is
possible to surveil our children
constantly, which doesn't mean that
we should. There's ways in which
we want to keep our children safe,
of course, but at the same time we
have to respect them as whole
human beings who deserve
privacy.“ [10]
Just as parents may hold secrets
from their children, so too may
children.

11. Photo: Edan Cohen, 2014 via Unsplash
‘Most parents recognize the hypocrisy in their
roving curiosity. ''When I was a 15-year-old
seminarian in Chicago, I was sneaking into gay
bars, which were not nice places back then,'' Mr.
Savage said. ''If I'd had that on my Instagram and
e-mails, my parents would have murdered me.'‘’
[5]

12. Photo: Jay Wennington, 2014 via Unsplash
The Trust
Factor
Trust between children and their parents is massively
important. Without trust no truthful or meaningful
dialogue can happen, and relationships can fall apart.
Children need to know their parents trust them in
order to return the favour.
Constantly monitoring and digging
through your child’s online life can come
across as untrusting and underhanded, no
matter the good intentions.

13. When Jen ‘Nessel's mom was a girl, she'd
been horrified that her mother insisted on
reading her diary; "She was very clear she
would never do that with me and I would
never do that with my child either," Nessel
recalled.’ [10]
Photo: Dariusz Sankowski, 2016 via Unsplash

14. Photo: Jacob Walti, 2014 via Unsplash
Self
Regulation
A huge part of growing up is learning
balance. Balancing work and play, family
and friends, relationship and responsibility.
And these are things that have to be taught
through experience.
So how do kids learn balance online if they are
not left to experience it themselves?

15. Photo: David Marcu, 2014 via Unsplash
“kids need to be
free to make their
own mistakes”[10]

16. The
Expert
Advice
Photo: Ben Rosett, 2015 via Unsokash

17. Photo: Varshesh Joshi, 2016 via Unsplash
Caroline Knorr ‘urges parents to discuss
boundaries and appropriate online
behavior with their children and to "parent
around the device" by "doling out features
sparingly" when the phone is new. She
suggests opening up more features as the
child demonstrates the ability to "follow the
rules and meet expectations and
understand consequences.”’ [10]

18. In Conclusion
Photo: Zara Walker, 2016 via Unsplash

19. “The concept of online privacy is a
difficult one — even governments are
still debating it and trying to pin it
down, and it’s no different when it’s
in the home.” [11]
Photo: Ronda Darby, 2015 via Unsplash
Growing up is the most difficult thing for both children and their parents.
For kids, it is a whole realm of possibilities that steadily draws back the
curtain on their adulthood, and for their parents it is the loss of the
innocent and youthful joy that their children carried with them.
Understanding how to both encourage and escort them through their
transition is, as it always has been, a difficult balance. The digital age has
made the issue more complex, and walking the fine line between parent
and police will be a precarious position for all.
But don’t lose your child,
in an effort to find them.

20. Cited:
• [1] Anderson, Monica. "Technology Device Ownership: 2015." Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. 29 Oct. 2015.
Web. 01 June 2016.
• [2] "Facebook Passes 1.44B Monthly Active Users and 1.25B Mobile Users; 65% Are Now Daily users." VentureBeat. 22 Apr.
2015. Web. 01 June 2016.
• [3] Lenhart, Amanda. "Teens, Social Media & Technology Overview 2015." Pew Research Center Internet Science Tech RSS. 09
Apr. 2015. Web. 01 June 2016.
• [4] "Company Info | Facebook Newsroom." Facebook Newsroom. Web. 01 June 2016.
• [5] Paul, Pamela. "Cyberparenting and the Risk of T.M.I." New York Times 5 May 2013: 8(L). Academic OneFile. Web. 3 June 2016.
• [6] "Company Profile." About Webroot. Web. 02 June 2016.
• [7] "Our Mission & Beliefs." MediaSmarts. Web. 02 June 2016.
• [8] "Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives | Common Sense Media." Social Media, Social Life: How Teens
View Their Digital Lives | Common Sense Media. 26 June 2012. Web. 02 June 2016.
• [9] "Digital Parenting Tools: Social, Location and Mobile Monitoring -." Digital Parenting Tools Social Location and Mobile
Monitoring. Web. 2 June 2016.
• [10] Augenbraun, Eliene. "Should Parents Snoop on Their Kids Online?" CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 16 Sept. 2014. Web. 02 June
2016.
• [11] Ingram, Mathew. "Snooping on Your Kids: If the NSA’s Tools Were Available, I Probably Would Have Used Them." Gigaom.
07 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 June 2016.