very exposed lives, too. As the
advancements in technology allow
us to access, organise and store
tremendous amounts of information
with ease, they also allow us to
dispense it without much difficulty.
Gone are the days of wallets thick with
our children’s photos. Now Facebook
and Instagram let us show off those
volumes of photos and videos we
took, while sharing up-to-the-minute
narratives about every wobble, step
and achievement in our children’s lives.
Parental filters
On this third round of parenting, I
have truly found delight and great help
in all the technological leaps to today’s
gadgets and tools. However, I think
a bit of discernment and discretion is
in order. Scott Steinberg, high-tech
parenting expert and author of
The
Modern Parent’s Guide
, says that today,
with the deluge of information on the
web, filtering down to what works best
for our families is important.
It was already difficult enough
before, when our mother and mother-
in-law would have conflicting advice
on how to look after their grandchild.
Today, with thousands of parenting
opinions from the Google Village,
deciding what’s best for your child
becomes even more complicated. But
we shouldn’t lose our own parenting
voice, because, at the end of the day,
we each have to decide what’s right for
our own children.
We also need to remember to
enjoy our children’s big and small
moments with them, and not just
behind the camera or while live-
Tweeting. As a music and movement
teacher for young children, I often find
myself reminding the parents to put
their cameras down during the hour-
long lessons so they can focus more on
interacting with their kids.
And finally, despite our eagerness
as proud parents, we need to apply
prudence when we publish the
lives of our children to any social
networking platform. I agree with
Randi Zuckerberg, former executive at
Facebook and now founder and CEO
of Zuckerberg Media (and yes, sister
to Mark Zuckerberg), who, during
an interview, shared her thoughts on
posting photos of her son: “I used to
post a lot of photos of him and then
I started thinking a lot about how I
was leaving a digital footprint for him
online without his consent. So after that
I started posting a lot less... I want him
to have the opportunity to develop his
identity online when he’s ready.”
October 2014
71
