Nov 03 2010
Week 10: Response
More research should be done (or maybe it’s being done already) on how this digital monsoon will affect children. There was a study released a few weeks ago that 92% of U.S. toddlers have an online presence. 92%!!! That’s ridiculous. (The number is only 73% in Western Europe, by the way).
One point of the study is that it’s not just the parents who are putting their kids’ pictures online. It’s relatives who are sharing with each other too. And while many mothers don’t want their kids on Facebook, that doesn’t stop an aunt or a friend from putting pictures up (this is a question for the privacy debate; how do I control my online presence if I can’t do anything about pictures people post of me?)
How will this online presence from day 1 (and I’ve seen ultra sound AND pregnancy pee-on-stick tests on facebook, so in some cases before day 1) affect children as they grow up? Will it become a ceremonial tradition for parents to pass on a child’s Facebook account to them when they turn 13? “You’re a man now, Michael. Here is the password to your Facebook account.” And what about when those kids do become teenagers and get their own accounts: will they have pictures tagged of them that date back all the way to the day they were born?
It’s scary to think about your whole like being mapped out online. But then again, my whole collegiate life has been documented on Facebook, and as of now I have no plans of deleting my account. I got a Facebook the fall semester of my senior year in high school (where few high schools had networks and the college and high school Facebooks were separate; I’ve been with Facebook through many changes, thank you very much). I didn’t use Facebook much in high school because very few of my friend had one, but of course Facebook exploded once I got to college. The way I use Facebook has changed now that I’m out of college, but it’s so useful for networking and keeping up with friends that I intend to keep using it. So what does that mean for me? My life will continue to be filed away in Facebook’s databases? Will I still have a Facebook by the time I have kids?
I don’t know much about psychology, but the way humans perceive themselves must be different because of this image-heavy digital world. As I mentioned in my framing questions, for example, my younger cousins (11, 10 and 8 ) always immediately ask “can I see it? Let me see it!” whenever I take a picture of them with my digital camera. I remember them doing this even when they were toddlers, trying to pry my camera out of my hands to see the screen as soon as I snapped the photo. As far back as they remember, cameras have had screens on them that show the picture as soon as it was taken. The rest of us, on the other hand, had to wait until that roll of 24 (or 36, if it was a special occasion that warranted many pictures) photos was developed and delivered or picked up. 24 pictures, that’s it. You had to pick and choose carefully what pictures you took, and you had to wait patiently to see if any of them turned out.
That’s not how it is anymore. Images are taken and deleted with two clicks of a button, and because images are so easy to produce and reproduce, we see images of ourselves all the time. On Facebook, on Mom’s screensaver, in photo frames. How has that affected how we perceive ourselves? Think back 200 years, when daguerreotypes were yet to be mainstream and portraits and silhouettes where the only ways we had of reproducing images. The only time you looked at yourself, unless your family was wealthy enough to have a portrait made, was when you passed in front of a mirror. Now we’re surrounded by images of ourselves constantly.
Are we more egotistical because of this? More critical of our image? Less critical? I’m not sure. It will be interesting to look at the research conducted ten years from now to see how this is affecting ourselves and our kids. I certainly do hope the trend of putting pictures of pee-stick positive pregnancy tests does not catch on.
One point of the study is that it’s not just the parents who are putting their kids’ pictures online. It’s relatives who are sharing with each other too. And while many mothers don’t want their kids on Facebook, that doesn’t stop an aunt or a friend from putting pictures up (this is a question for the privacy debate; how do I control my online presence if I can’t do anything about pictures people post of me?)
How will this online presence from day 1 (and I’ve seen ultra sound AND pregnancy pee-on-stick tests on facebook, so in some cases before day 1) affect children as they grow up? Will it become a ceremonial tradition for parents to pass on a child’s Facebook account to them when they turn 13? “You’re a man now, Michael. Here is the password to your Facebook account.” And what about when those kids do become teenagers and get their own accounts: will they have pictures tagged of them that date back all the way to the day they were born?
It’s scary to think about your whole like being mapped out online. But then again, my whole collegiate life has been documented on Facebook, and as of now I have no plans of deleting my account. I got a Facebook the fall semester of my senior year in high school (where few high schools had networks and the college and high school Facebooks were separate; I’ve been with Facebook through many changes, thank you very much). I didn’t use Facebook much in high school because very few of my friend had one, but of course Facebook exploded once I got to college. The way I use Facebook has changed now that I’m out of college, but it’s so useful for networking and keeping up with friends that I intend to keep using it. So what does that mean for me? My life will continue to be filed away in Facebook’s databases? Will I still have a Facebook by the time I have kids?
I don’t know much about psychology, but the way humans perceive themselves must be different because of this image-heavy digital world. As I mentioned in my framing questions, for example, my younger cousins (11, 10 and 8 ) always immediately ask “can I see it? Let me see it!” whenever I take a picture of them with my digital camera. I remember them doing this even when they were toddlers, trying to pry my camera out of my hands to see the screen as soon as I snapped the photo. As far back as they remember, cameras have had screens on them that show the picture as soon as it was taken. The rest of us, on the other hand, had to wait until that roll of 24 (or 36, if it was a special occasion that warranted many pictures) photos was developed and delivered or picked up. 24 pictures, that’s it. You had to pick and choose carefully what pictures you took, and you had to wait patiently to see if any of them turned out.
That’s not how it is anymore. Images are taken and deleted with two clicks of a button, and because images are so easy to produce and reproduce, we see images of ourselves all the time. On Facebook, on Mom’s screensaver, in photo frames. How has that affected how we perceive ourselves? Think back 200 years, when daguerreotypes were yet to be mainstream and portraits and silhouettes where the only ways we had of reproducing images. The only time you looked at yourself, unless your family was wealthy enough to have a portrait made, was when you passed in front of a mirror. Now we’re surrounded by images of ourselves constantly.
Are we more egotistical because of this? More critical of our image? Less critical? I’m not sure. It will be interesting to look at the research conducted ten years from now to see how this is affecting ourselves and our kids. I certainly do hope the trend of putting pictures of pee-stick positive pregnancy tests does not catch on.
Tags: facebook, response, self-image, toddler online presence
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