Mommy Blog Lines: Tal(k)ing Care

Watching Emma Watson and Tom Hanks in the Netflix movie The Circle where Watson's character, Mae, shares every single second of her work and personal life on line by wearing a " SeeChange " camera 24/7 in a commitment to be transparent and giving up her right to privacy. As she rises through the ranks, she is encouraged by the company's founder, Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks), to engage in a groundbreaking experiment that pushes the boundaries of privacy, ethics and ultimately her personal freedom. Her participation in the experiment, and every decision she makes begin to affect the lives and future of her friends, family and that of humanity. Is this the way y/our world is going? Will interpersonal interactions and relationships die when there is no space for personal privacy and interpersonal private relationships? While Mae has entered into this 'voluntary' situation as an adult - how may this influence/violate children's privacy? Where does on

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKJjKkGzggJFXNl4bQwK3w6agDpGvqzpTGfXU4WD832GkcAKa2rCN0iuRQ6XUuFKXQknXLnbEBzQvd4SwOPrvphRWCeRRQS3M48GMB4rYP-oSD6bXUGqmlpJc9Ke-tsIDHtWB5ur-l8LuN/s1600/care+less.jpg Careless people are dangerous and immature.  Check Gatsby. The villains in this American tragedy are reckless with other people's emotions. The same is being said of Caitlyn Jenner of the publication of her The Secrets of My Life .  One reviewer calls her "emotionally careless with the women in her life" in "How Caitlyn Jenner Betrays Her Family in Her New Memoir The Secrets of My Life". There may be some lessons to be learned for mommy bloggers who want to talk about their families, especially when their children are moving into adulthood. How does the nature of a family blog change by the very definition of aging and maturing children within the family? Let's speculate a bit about possible areas related to family for bloggers to

My family was always very cautious about what information was put online and what the privacy policy for the family was. I imagine much of that fear and tension was cultivated by the countless chatroom horror stories that dominated the airtime on the 6pm national news. I was never allowed to go on sites that host chatrooms that match you to talk to complete strangers by chat, webcam, or both, like Omegle for example. Honestly, I never had a problem with that rule as a child… those websites freaked me out too, so I was more than happy to stay away from them. Additionally, we were never to post anything super personal online; like address, full name, what school we went to, and even, depending on the website, what city we live in. Again, I think much of this fear stemmed from the abduction stories that are constantly in the news, and frankly, I don’t blame my parents for establishing these (totally reasonable) rules… the internet is forever, and it’s better to be sa

https://www.playmeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/0111_group-compass-walk_div-1024x902.png What's the right word to describe voluntarily surrendering personal and private information that could be used about or against one? The rather old fashioned word wiretapping continues to be used against 3rd party interventions -- when 3rd parties tap into phone or internet conversations to gain privileged information. Donald Trump has raised the specter of wiretapping as something done to him although his allegations are often unfounded,  floundering and meeting with denial. Would a word like "open line" best describe the willingness of ordinary citizens to expose their private conversations and information to the online world listening in.  Online users who are interested have learned that privacy settings offer limited protection of one's privacy. I might find my picture advertising a product that I have not endorsed or given permission to be used in this manner. Y

Beth on the Virani article that cautions about Facebook and privacy loss: Concerns with Facebook’s privacy regulations have been ongoing but I remember distinctly when the big scare that Salim Virani addresses swept social media. I was always suspicious of Facebook's privacy settings and how effective they might be, but assumed that because I don't use my real name, my profile is linked to an old Hotmail account rather than my current email, and I don't have the Facebook app on my phone, that my information was safe. This clearly isn’t the case, and it  now seems naïve and blindly optimistic to assume that our personal information won’t be mined for corporate gain, which happens constantly online from the use of cookies to participation on various social media platforms.   When Facebook first got called out for sneakily altering their privacy settings a series of copy and paste disclaimers proclaiming the users autonomy and right to privacy went viral. The irony of pe

Beth on the Virani article that cautions about Facebook and privacy loss: Concerns with Facebook’s privacy regulations have been ongoing but I remember distinctly when the big scare that Salim Virani addresses swept social media. I was always suspicious of Facebook's privacy settings and how effective they might be, but assumed that because I don't use my real name, my profile is linked to an old Hotmail account rather than my current email, and I don't have the Facebook app on my phone, that my information was safe. This clearly isn’t the case, and it  now seems naïve and blindly optimistic to assume that our personal information won’t be mined for corporate gain, which happens constantly online from the use of cookies to participation on various social media platforms.   When Facebook first got called out for sneakily altering their privacy settings a series of copy and paste disclaimers proclaiming the users autonomy and right to privacy went viral. The irony

Salim Virani’s piece, Get YourLoved One’s Off Facebook  is an eye-opening account of Facebook’s incredibly harmful, intrusive, and ever-changing privacy policy. Virani outlines all of the horrible things Facebook does with the information it collects from you, the people you have on Facebook, other sites you visit, your online bank account, and the conversations you have with people using messaging apps like Facebook Messenger. Anonymity is never guaranteed online, but its shocking to hear about companies selling their customers personal data to ad companies and state governments. Additionally, what’s even more shocking is how Facebook constantly tracks users locations via GPS, even if the app itself isn’t open (but if you think about it... isn’t that what our phones are doing all the time?). The involuntary privacy changes that I’m apparently oblivious to came as a real shock to me. Prior to reading the article, I was already aware of Facebook’s dodgy advertising strategies, espe