xo, sundevil

I grew up on social media. I got my first Facebook account at 10 to chat with my family, got Snapchat when it came out when I was 11 or 12, and I have a digital footprint for the ages at just 22. That's also not counting the hundreds of thousands of times I've appeared in other people's social medias either.

I wasn't part of a family vlogging channel and I didn't grow up with a camera shoved in my face all the time, I didn't have my mom posting a video about getting my first period or going shopping for bras for literally millions of people to see.

Still, the fact that so much information about me, from pictures to what my interests were is part of the wider internet and simply not possible to wipe... creeps me out.

So what are the ethics of putting minors online? It's no secret that the internet is a scary place, filled with potential predators and anonymous people looking for the vulnerable to exploit.

It's nothing against my parents or any other parents of my generation either; like everyone, they were eager and excited for the opportunities and capabilities of newer technology. The idea that catfishing was a thing, or kids potentially being groomed through something as benign as an online game, was the furthest thing from anyone's mind.

They didn't know any better. But we do.

Online grooming is at the highest it's been, cyber bullying and harassment a factor too. When we know that predators use social media as their play ground, why are we making content of our kids more accessible? Why are we putting them on the internet in ways that they might not want, in irreversible ways, without informed consent?