Sharing Too Much Online
I’m going to break down a course that I have given to my family, friends, and Scouts over the years. It is about sharing too much online, and it might not be what you are thinking. This will be a multi-part post.
One of the things kids love to do on their YouTube channel is shared too much. Things like morning routine with the child with an age ranging from 8-16 will share their morning routine, everything from their bedroom, their clothing, and even in the shower (they are not showing too much skin, but why show anything in the shower at all?). But this post is about the trend of “The House Tour”, where they take the camera around their house and narrate as they do it. Let me show you why this is bad.
This is a nine-year-old girl from Sri Ganganagar, India, with nearly 2,000 followers. I came across her while researching for the course I teach, I was updating and I ran across YouTube trends and once I got beyond the Ice Bucket Challenge and this Challenge and that Challenge, I notice House Tours and well, here I am.
She has about 20 videos and she hits the House Tour with two videos, “My Daily Routine” with one video and “A day in my life” with one video. Her YouTube channel links up to her Instagram page (one of her Instagram photos includes a photo of her wearing a skirt, and her legs are spread open showing her underwear. At least one of her YouTube videos has a Geotag of Sri Ganganagar, India
As she takes the camera around her house, she ventures outside and walks around the upper-level patio which gives a clear 360 view of the area surrounding her house.
She also clearly shows the family cars license plate in one of the videos
And even shows some valuables in one shot and the houses security cameras in another.
I’m sure if I spent enough time on Google Maps, searching around Sri Ganganagar, India, I could locate the house, she even posted one video of her family leaving the house, getting into the car, and driving around the neighborhood, which will only make a search that much easier.
These videos could open up a family to several crimes including theft, abduction, and many other crimes I don’t even want to think about. I’m sure she never meant any harm, but nonetheless, the harm is there.
So please for the love of all things in the world, make sure that you are reviewing what your child is posting online. Make sure that you are really looking at what they are posting, they could be sharing too much without even knowing it.
*** For the purpose of this blog post, I’m keeping names out of this post to help protect the innocent ***