Selfies, Sexting, and Social Networking - The talk you BETTER have with your kid NOW
Let's face it, most of you, I would venture to say 99% of you, have NO idea what your kid is doing online. This is not a knock against your parenting skills or the nature of your sweet young ones. It is just a fact. In this day and age kids are constantly connected to the Internet and each other through a myriad of applications, programs, and devices many of which you have ZERO control over. Kids are naturally curious, kids + other kids increase that natural curiosity tenfold. What you think you may have a handle on at home might not be the reality once they get out the door and around their buddies, crew, school mates, etc. It is human nature. The problem though in this day and age is that human nature is multiplied a thousand times over and instantaneously able to be acted upon in real time via social media vectors and information communication devices.
The internet, and with it the ability to communicate information in real time with anyone anywhere, is ever available and the norm. Now in the long run this has many benefits as individuals learn to leverage communication resources to enable knowledge gathering, social awareness, and a genuine connection with others. Although in the short term, and until an individual learns the benefits of such a medium, there are potential pitfalls, dangers, and threats that these communication vectors produce specifically to our children. Many of these pitfalls can be summed in three areas - Selfies, Sexting, and Social Networking. Let's take a look at each one, what potential harm it could cause and how to counter potential threat vectors of each.
Selfies - Oh yes, the innocuous sounding selfie. Sounds like a great idea and in general is not a problem. Although an excess of selfie obsession might indicate a potential narcissistic personality disorder that is not my concern as a cyber security expert. Instead I am concerned about the constant uploading and sharing of "selfies" with either geo-location data via EXIF information (basically information embedded in the picture that one can not see) or a general geo-location observable background (same place, similarly place, close grouping of places) that is evident of the photos themselves even minus EXIF data. EXIF information is data that is embedded about the picture but is not viewable or self evident unless you have specialized software or know how to look for it. EXIF data can tell you about simple things such as the date and time of the photo but also much more specific information such as location and more (actual geographical coordinates, type of camera, exposure rates, and much more). While the other things are of interest what is more concerning is ANY type of geo-location information being able to be extracted from the digital photo. This information could be used in many ways but of most concern would be for those individuals more worried about potential stalking or problems with individuals obsessed with the subject. Extracting several geo-coordinates on similar days in different locations could also allow an individual to potentially build a location presence pattern of the individual over a certain period of time.
What can you do? - Well there are plenty of ways to combat potential inadvertent data exposure of EXIF information but the MOST easy way is to TURN OFF location services on your cellphone, camera, etc. At the VERY least turn it off for photos from your smart phone or smart device. This is very easy and is capable on all brands of devices. Also MOST but not all social media platforms should strip out the EXIF data automatically upon upload. Check with your social media platform to make sure this is the case. Lastly it is not good to constantly upload photos with precise location data or very apparent location information. This is especially true if you find your child or yourself in a situation where someone is trying to find, locate, and bother you. Also tell your children to restrict sharing as much as possible. Try to isolate just a core group of friends, acquaintances, or family to share the pictures with. This will limit your overall exposure.
Sexting - Ok if you are saying this just doesn't sound smart right off the bat I would tend to agree with you but at the same time one can not limit certain aspects of human nature. Human sexuality will always find a way to express itself as it has throughout time. The problem with these times is that expression may live forever due to technology. Not only may they live forever in some digital format they also have a high probability of being instantaneously disbursed to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Ahhh both the benefit and drawback of our always connected world we live in now. Now as an adult this still presents problems but we "should" make more cognitive evaluations of our actions prior to doing anything. Now this is not to say this is always true but at least as an adult we shoulder the responsibility. Children on the other hand do not have the wisdom to fully understand the implications and potential ramifications of their actions. Sexting (the process by which we share intimate photos of ourselves and discuss intimate sexual preferences, activities, and experiences) can have extreme negative social, psychological, and even physical consequences particularly with our youth. Sexting potentially can be facilitated by just about every internet connected device in your house, it is not just a cellphone thing. Any device that allows instant messaging, video, or audio can be, and I am sure has been, used to share close intimate discussions, messages, and visuals among interested parties. Images and text once transmitted live forever and are not controllable from the point of origin. Now I would say this is an inherent weakness along with many others in our modern social communication and information sharing infrastructure and one that will not change any time soon. Young people do not understand the far reaching impact of seemingly harmful flirtations and exchanges of pictures and such in this new information age. A few of the potential harms that can come from this are:
.....more to come tomorrow but I am tired and have to hit the bed now......check back in a day or two for the complete rundown...............
The internet, and with it the ability to communicate information in real time with anyone anywhere, is ever available and the norm. Now in the long run this has many benefits as individuals learn to leverage communication resources to enable knowledge gathering, social awareness, and a genuine connection with others. Although in the short term, and until an individual learns the benefits of such a medium, there are potential pitfalls, dangers, and threats that these communication vectors produce specifically to our children. Many of these pitfalls can be summed in three areas - Selfies, Sexting, and Social Networking. Let's take a look at each one, what potential harm it could cause and how to counter potential threat vectors of each.
Selfies - Oh yes, the innocuous sounding selfie. Sounds like a great idea and in general is not a problem. Although an excess of selfie obsession might indicate a potential narcissistic personality disorder that is not my concern as a cyber security expert. Instead I am concerned about the constant uploading and sharing of "selfies" with either geo-location data via EXIF information (basically information embedded in the picture that one can not see) or a general geo-location observable background (same place, similarly place, close grouping of places) that is evident of the photos themselves even minus EXIF data. EXIF information is data that is embedded about the picture but is not viewable or self evident unless you have specialized software or know how to look for it. EXIF data can tell you about simple things such as the date and time of the photo but also much more specific information such as location and more (actual geographical coordinates, type of camera, exposure rates, and much more). While the other things are of interest what is more concerning is ANY type of geo-location information being able to be extracted from the digital photo. This information could be used in many ways but of most concern would be for those individuals more worried about potential stalking or problems with individuals obsessed with the subject. Extracting several geo-coordinates on similar days in different locations could also allow an individual to potentially build a location presence pattern of the individual over a certain period of time.
What can you do? - Well there are plenty of ways to combat potential inadvertent data exposure of EXIF information but the MOST easy way is to TURN OFF location services on your cellphone, camera, etc. At the VERY least turn it off for photos from your smart phone or smart device. This is very easy and is capable on all brands of devices. Also MOST but not all social media platforms should strip out the EXIF data automatically upon upload. Check with your social media platform to make sure this is the case. Lastly it is not good to constantly upload photos with precise location data or very apparent location information. This is especially true if you find your child or yourself in a situation where someone is trying to find, locate, and bother you. Also tell your children to restrict sharing as much as possible. Try to isolate just a core group of friends, acquaintances, or family to share the pictures with. This will limit your overall exposure.
Sexting - Ok if you are saying this just doesn't sound smart right off the bat I would tend to agree with you but at the same time one can not limit certain aspects of human nature. Human sexuality will always find a way to express itself as it has throughout time. The problem with these times is that expression may live forever due to technology. Not only may they live forever in some digital format they also have a high probability of being instantaneously disbursed to anyone, anytime, anywhere. Ahhh both the benefit and drawback of our always connected world we live in now. Now as an adult this still presents problems but we "should" make more cognitive evaluations of our actions prior to doing anything. Now this is not to say this is always true but at least as an adult we shoulder the responsibility. Children on the other hand do not have the wisdom to fully understand the implications and potential ramifications of their actions. Sexting (the process by which we share intimate photos of ourselves and discuss intimate sexual preferences, activities, and experiences) can have extreme negative social, psychological, and even physical consequences particularly with our youth. Sexting potentially can be facilitated by just about every internet connected device in your house, it is not just a cellphone thing. Any device that allows instant messaging, video, or audio can be, and I am sure has been, used to share close intimate discussions, messages, and visuals among interested parties. Images and text once transmitted live forever and are not controllable from the point of origin. Now I would say this is an inherent weakness along with many others in our modern social communication and information sharing infrastructure and one that will not change any time soon. Young people do not understand the far reaching impact of seemingly harmful flirtations and exchanges of pictures and such in this new information age. A few of the potential harms that can come from this are:
- boyfriend/girlfriend revenge postings and distribution of pictures.
- stalking/obsession
- bullying, degradation, social humiliation
- actual criminal activity (potential distribution of child pornography charges) depending on jurisdictions and laws.
- Take the time to sit down and go over both the short term and long term ramifications of engaging in these activities. Keep an open mind and listen to what your child says in relation to these things, this dialogue will go a long way in telling you what mindset your child has how well they truly understand the concern.
- From a technical perspective you can implement parental monitoring s/w on your pc's and mobile devices. If there is trust established you can ask to periodically review your child's media storage on their devices with you.
- You could review the amount and type of data being transferred with your carrier such as Verizon, At&t, Sprint and the like. They all have online tools that allow you to analyze the amount and types of data being transmitted and often times to who also.
- Look for warning signs of constantly guarded phones while in the presence of adults and refusal to let an adult look at or use their phone. This is a bit tricky because while you want to express and do the right thing about your concern at the same time some children will react to an invasion of general privacy even if they are not doing anything wrong.
- Review their social media pages and look for more overt signs of hyper-sexuality or of more provocative postings. This does NOT always mean they are sexting but it usually is a strong indicator that they might be.
.....more to come tomorrow but I am tired and have to hit the bed now......check back in a day or two for the complete rundown...............