SACRAMENTO -- The cyber-powered lifestyle involving social media and texting seduces us into believing there is privacy. Witness the recent viral YouTube video of Tommy Jordan shooting his 15-year-old daughter’s laptop with his pistol as a public display of his disapproval of her very disrespectful “private” protest on Facebook complaining that her parents work her too hard with chores.
According to the Mashup Social Media report, Jordan said:
“Maybe a few kids can take something away from this… If you’re so disrespectful to your parents and yourself as to post this kind of thing on Facebook, you’re deserving of some tough love. Today, my daughter is getting a dose of tough love.”
Jordan’s admonishment of his daughter gone viral illustrates beautifully why this “privacy” we seek on line is a farce.
Joanne McNabb has been the chief of the California Office of Privacy Protection since it’s founding in 2001. “The social media environment suggests privacy that is not real,” McNabb said. “The balancing act of freedom of speech and the rights of other individuals became a challenge with the advent of Kodak instant camera technology, when it was possible to take pictures without consent of others and publish them. Today all sorts of personal information can be collected and broadcast.”
Whether you agree with Jordan’s method, his daughter experienced a very tough lesson about the illusion of privacy on-line that hopefully will be instructive for many.
The Office of Privacy Protection offers training and resources for parents and teens. For more information go to CyberSafety.
Parent Resources
- Family Life in the Network Culture
- A Parents’ Guide to Cyber Citizenship
- California Office of Privacy Protection, Sacramento
- Cyber Safety Help
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