As you can see, I decided to make my blog private. I'm still having an internal debate over this because I think making a blog private takes some of the fun out of it.
In fact, I was planning to post most than ever this year. I had this goal to post 15-20 times in January--just short funny anecdotes or rants or thoughts every other day or so. My kids say lots of funny things, and our life is a bit of circus so it seems easy to post something often. In fact, I forget half of the funny things I want to post because I wait too long in between posts. So posting more often seemed to be a good idea.
Then I read this post by Bethany Mandel, and it kinda made me rethink what I'm doing with my family blog.
https://ricochet.com/585919/imagine-googling-your-name-and-finding-your-entire-childhood-online/
And I started wondering if going private was even enough. Going private doesn't save your kids' photos from being used for evil means. And even with that sort of terrible evilness aside, maybe I shouldn't be telling stories about my kids and should only stick to stories about myself. Maybe they will see it as a major invasion of their privacy.
The thing is--I mostly think my kids are going to be glad I blogged about them. There are some great memories and pictures that they will love to look back on. But maybe they won't want everyone to know about it. And I do tend to be too much of an open book.
In fact, a former teacher of June's told me to stop telling everyone we might be moving because she was afraid my kids would be treated differently if everyone thought their stay here was temporary.
Anyway, I'm asking you all to weigh in. But to be kind too.
Thanks,
Heather
Oh I have many thoughts and feelings on this. I may end up posting multiple times. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteMy mom feels very strongly about privacy and children on the internet. She gets super upset when anyone posts pictures of their kids in the bathtub.
I would say that I am more middle of the road. I find many of these things to be rather alarmist.
That being said, I am pretty careful about what I post to the internet mainly because I don't want to jeopardize any work (or dating) opportunities.
So I guess what I'm saying is that I think people get a little over excited but I am still quite careful. I don't have an Alexa or Google Home because I think it is creepy that they are listening. I'd like to stop my phone from listening to me but I like the convenience, so I don't really bother.
I think it makes sense to make your blog private if you are talking about your kids, but I think it's ok to post things to an online forum. If your photos are stored in the cloud then they are stored on a foreign server just like your blog.
I also think it's really hard to journal so if there is a tool that helps you do that you shouldn't discourage it.
More thoughts to come. I haven't read the article yet.
Just read the article. I should really be getting more work done today...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the author and I think that she had well thought out and reasoned arguments. I think there is one difference between her and you and I. She is a public figure. I am not.
So I think it's perfectly acceptable to post small anecdotes and cute pictures on private instagrams and blogs.
I also think that we should make reasonable efforts to make private things unsearchable but I just don't think we'll ever succeed in getting rid of everything so there's no point in being overly zealous.
Also, on a legal note. Europe just passed very strict internet privacy laws. These laws force companies to remove your information from their online databases at your request. Everyone in the legal community who works in areas related to privacy is very interested to see if the US will eventually adopt such rules. Often Europe is more liberal than the US and the US tends to follow eventually in terms of laws like this.
I think protecting your family is important and if you feel inspired to privatize the blog, then you should. I wouldn't hold back from the anecdotes, etc. since they are really hard to remember later and I think your kids will appreciate them. No one reads my blog anymore (since I made it private) besides my mom, but once I decided that my audience is my children, it became more enjoyable and motivational to me to write on it. Unless I can come up with a better record-keeping method, I like the blog and feel like it will be a legacy for my kids. I would LOVE to see a blog my mom maintained for us as we were growing up. In fact, the other day we were all looking at the blog and the kids had so many questions and liked seeing their pictures and hearing what I wrote. :)
ReplyDeleteI think it's great to go private and I'll do the same when I have kids. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete