Aren’t you glad that the stupid things you did as a teen didn’t get chronicled in full “glory” on the internet for all the world to see? I have to have some compassion for this generation of teens. One stupid move, and a “friend” captures a picture of some indiscreet moment. It’s amazing what peer pressure or a dare, or the brain on hormones, can accomplish!
Perhaps you see an embarrassing Facebook (or Instagram, Flickr, etc.) picture of your teen showing a terrific lapse of judgment. Or maybe your teen comes to you and tells you there is a compromising or damaging picture of him or her posted on someone’s Facebook. Your horrified child would do anything to be able to go back in time and undo that moment. How can you help?
The truth is, you might not be able to erase that embarrassing picture, but there are things you can do to minimize the damage. My internet service provider posted a great article on how to combat these unwanted pictures. For example, the article suggests: “In the [Facebook] privacy settings under How Tags Work, the ‘profile review’ setting allows you to review and approve every tag before it goes on your page. If you don’t approve a tag, the photo will still be live, it just won’t link to your page. You can also exclude some people from seeing the tag.” As a parent, first we should insist that we be allowed to “friend” our child so we can keep tabs on our child’s online “presence.” Then, we would do well to read some of the other suggestions in Comcast’s helpful article.