Opinion | Mom and Dad, It’s My (Digital) Life

‘Photos of my toddler body have become her brand’

I am overcome with embarrassment and humiliation whenever my mother, a frequent user of Facebook and Instagram, decides to share yet another photograph of me as a toddler. She posts so often and with such consistency that photos of my toddler body, whether covered in spaghetti or dressed up for Halloween, have essentially become her brand.

Given the fact that I am almost 30 years old, I find her posting to be a reductionist view of my life, as if I peaked at 3 years old. I am an accomplished young professional with a graduate degree, yet in her eyes I have never topped potty training. — Jake, 29

‘I’d just like my mother to ask me’

I’d honestly just like my mother to ask me before posting pictures of me. I tell her not to take pictures of me because I’m an annoying, hormonal teenager with body issues, but she insists. She knows about online security but defends the posts by saying they are only viewable by her close friends. That doesn’t make me feel any better. — Sasha, 14

‘It isn’t necessary to keep a digital record of our lives’

Think about when we all first got on Facebook — I cannot think of a single person I know who doesn’t cringe at the sight of their 2010 posts. It takes a certain maturity for people to realize that it isn’t necessary to keep a digital record of our lives. In an age when more personal information is being extrapolated about us every single day, maybe it isn’t such a good idea to allow an older, less tech savvy generation the leniency that we allowed ourselves during the infancy of social media. Now, more than ever, is a time where privacy and the understanding of privacy in the context of the digital age is necessary. — Perkin, 19

‘The way she uses social media is completely different from the way I do’

Some of my cousins requested that no photos of their kids be posted online. This struck me as odd at first, but now I completely agree. My mom still shares unflattering photos of me on birthday posts. It’s gotten to the point where I now give her preapproved images so that I know what will be sent out into the world. The way she uses social media is completely different from the way I do, and it’s hard to reconcile that. — Natalie, 23

‘They believe their world is much smaller than it actually is’

I feel disrespected when my parents post pictures of me and our family online without my consent. I don’t think they understand the gravity of it because they didn’t have to consider the issues during their own childhoods. They believe their world is much smaller than it actually is, and thus cannot empathize.

I feel sorry for children whose lives are online from their first moments in the hospital. They will have a different sense of personhood and privacy and I fear that a lot of respect is lost with this change. — Ashley, 29