LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Think before you post online
We often don't think about the chain of events when we post photos of our children to our social media platforms.
Madam – It’s a horrifying reality that children are going missing every day, often to be trafficked.
I believe we need to look closer to home and realise that social media is a huge contributing factor to this terrifying scourge.
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We often don’t think about the chain of events when we post photos of our children to our social media platforms.
All we consider is that we want to share our special moments with friends and family.
By checking into certain areas and posting pictures of our homes, children and other identifying factors, we are inadvertently opening ourselves up to being targets to those who have evil intentions.
We can try to justify it by saying that we are only sharing with close friends and family, but we do not know how far those images are being shared and we cannot guarantee they will remain as private as we would like them to be.
Even an innocent image could hold information criminals can then use to find your child and target them.
I think parents should seriously consider removing identifying images from their social media accounts.
This may sound extreme, but you need to look at the bigger picture and realise that no social media account is ever truly private or secure.
That innocent post about eating dinner at a local restaurant could lead to a criminal knowing you are not at home, and could then lead to a home robbery.
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While this may sound paranoid, I have come to accept that there will always be people out there who look to take advantage of any perceived weakness or vulnerability.
I would rather be paranoid and safe, than overshare on social media and then sit with heartbreak later.
Parents, please consider carefully what you are trying to achieve by bragging about your child on social media.
Will the momentary high from online validation be worth a risk to your child?
K. Joubert
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