Hmm what to do??

I have been reading a lot lately about the effects of social media on family life and on society as a whole. It has got me a bit worried, especially after reading an article today about privacy online and photo sharing.

So I have always tried to limit my time using my phone. When the kids are awake I try not to use it unless for messages or calls. It really riles me when other people do it around me and the kids and they totally ignore everything that is going on around them. I agree with one article, what message is this sending our children? That my phone is more important than you, probably. This is not how I want P and A to think and is something I'm becoming more conscious of everyday.

It's so much easier said than done though isn't it? I often find myself on Facebook whilst A is on his play mat and I think to myself "what am I doing?!" I should be down on the floor playing with him, not ignoring him!

This is something I can personally work on though. But how to convince others? Mr J is probably far worse than me but when I ask him to put his phone down or turn off his iPad, he doesn't really understand why. He can't see the harm it's doing. And when people visit the children but would rather mess around with their phone than actually play with them. Then what?? Ban people from using their phones in my house. Probably not a good move.

The photo sharing has really got me thinking though. How do we know who is viewing pictures of our little ones? All innocently uploaded to share with family and friends but what happens then? People like and share and in a blink of an eye hundreds of people who you have never even met can see it, copy it, save it, even repost it elsewhere.

It's quite worrying stuff. Or is it just me? What do I do? Delete all my pictures on Facebook and never upload anymore? No longer use pictures of the children for my blips? Only use my phone after the kids are in bed??

My head is spinning.

Maybe it's not all that bad. What harm can a stranger viewing a picture really do? It's not that different to someone seeing them in the street. Maybe it's the amount of personal information that goes alongside the pictures that's the issue. A whole life recorded online. Great for memories but maybe a real photo album would be better....?

Perhaps we have all gone a little technology crazy

So for today, here's some of P's artwork........