social mediaAll our Privacy Parent articles about or related to the potential issues of social media.
All our Privacy Parent articles about or related to the potential issues of social media.
September 13th, 2023
It’s become a staple of our social media feeds: the back-to-school photo. Often the kids in the pictures—smiling on a front step, full of excitement—are holding a sign showing their name, grade, and school. It’s a milestone moment, worthy of a photo, and invariably sweet.
Posting these pics is understandable, but it’s also risky. In an age of mass data-collection and tracking (and less often but more alarming, cyber-stalking), these posts offer up…... Continue reading >
July 19th, 2023
Threads, the new Twitter-like social media app from the makers of Instagram, racked up 100 million users within five days of launching. Obviously, it’s popular (though engagement is waning). But it’s also worrisome, as it presents new concerns about privacy and safety and appears to be “gobbling data.”
Produced by
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Threads allows users to
connect with the people on their Instagram “close friends” list. You can post
messages,…... Continue reading >
July 12th, 2023
Snapchat’s My AI is aptly named, in that its use is very much not in your interest. Presented by the company as an in-app feature to help users find everything from trivia answers to gift ideas, it’s riddled with privacy and safety concerns. If you—or your kids—are going to use it, here are some concerns to think about.
First, the privacy issues. For My AI to work as intended, you have to give…... Continue reading >
June 6th, 2023
Social media has a hold on us. Not many of us can resist the urge to check our phones for the latest post, especially when we hear that notification “ding” from one of our social media accounts. There’s a good reason for that, and it’s not just a taste for gossip. It’s dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and reward in our brains.
When a social media notification sounds, a dopamine-induced loop is…... Continue reading >
June 2nd, 2023
Here’s an encouraging story from the New York Times: The Metaverse is kind of flopping. In a new story about Apple finally entering the Meta-scene, the Times reports that, so far, investments in the Metaverse have, largely, been a bust, costing Meta (nee Facebook), Microsoft, and others many billions of dollars. And what do they have to show for it? A whole lot of nothing. For those of us with a preference for the real world,…... Continue reading >
May 24th, 2023
A “profound risk.” That’s what the surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, says social media use can pose to the mental health of children and adolescents. Yes, social media can have benefits—helping people feel isolated make meaningful connections among them—but the downsides, Murthy argues in an advisory, are significant: sleep disruption, repeated exposure to inappropriate content that can “normalize” self-harm, cyberbullying, and on and on. In addition to cautioning parents about their kids’ use of social media,…... Continue reading >
April 11th, 2023
Face filters, in-app features that allow you to alter your appearance, present themselves as innocuous fun. Look! I have puppy eyes! But like just about everything app-related (and like most topics we cover here) there’s a downside. Two, really: They can be creepy—especially “age filters”—and they’re awful when it comes to users’ privacy, providing permanent “faceprints” to the companies that own them.
Let’s focus on those age filters. These are filters that allow…... Continue reading >
March 1st, 2023
It seems even Tik Tok realizes staring at a phone for hours on end isn’t good for developing minds. The company behind the app announced on March 3 it would limit use of Tik Tok to 60 minutes a day. It’s a good start, and it hints at a growing understanding that spending hours on social media is unhealthy.
... Continue reading >
February 26th, 2023
Your infant grandson sitting on the (endlessly patient) family dog. His older sister’s kindergarten portrait. The giddy dance they perform every time you play “Yellow Submarine.” They’re all moments you cherish and want to remember. And you know your friends would love them, too. So you do what so many of us do now. You share them. Not just with your closest confidants, but with hundreds of “friends” and countless people you’ll never meet.
... Continue reading >
January 6th, 2023
Remember those “This is your brain on drugs” ads with the egg in the frying pan? The New York Times has an interesting article out about research exploring how the heavy use of social media can affect teens’ brains. As one of the researchers put it, “teens who are habitually checking their social media are showing these pretty dramatic changes in the way their brains are responding, which could potentially have long-term consequences well into adulthood, sort…... Continue reading >