Teacher Says Parents Who Post A Specific Back To School Picture On Social Media Are Putting Their Kids At Risk
You can never be too careful when it comes to the safety of your children.
Evgeny Atamenenko | Shutterstock The first day of school for many U.S. students is right around the corner, and parents are ready to commemorate the occasion with their yearly back-to-school social media posts.
One teacher is advising parents to avoid posting one particular back-to-school photo that has gained quite a bit of popularity among Facebook moms over the years.
The teacher warned parents to avoid posting any back-to-school photos of their children that reveal their school and teacher’s names.
Mr. Williams (@mrwilliamsprek) is a preschool teacher who boasts over 2 million followers on TikTok and is using his platform to issue an important PSA to parents of young children starting school.
Many parents nowadays have their children hold up a sign that details their name, age, and the grade they are starting.
However, some signs can be personalized to include other details, such as what they want to be when they grow up, the name of their school, and the name of their teachers.
While commemorating your child's milestones and adding them to the memory box may seem like a good idea, Mr. Williams begged parents to leave them off social media.
“Let’s say a predator saw that photo of your child. They now know all the information about your child,” he said in a TikTok video. “They know your child’s name, they know your child’s school, they know your child’s grade, they know your child’s teacher, they know their favorite color, they know their favorite food, they know what TV shows they like, they know everything about them.”
It's simply too much personal information to be publicly shared.
Regardless of intent, the accessibility of information gives strangers access to information, which could be potentially dangerous for all the children at the school.
“Stop publicly posting these photos,” Mr. Williams urged parents. “If you want it for yourself, great! If you want it for when they graduate high school, amazing! But stop putting them online.”
lev.studio | Shutterstock
Cybersecurity experts agree that back-to-school photos on social media pose unnecessary risks.
Though it may seem innocent and cute to post pictures of your children’s first day, Forensic Computer and Cell Phone Expert Tim McLemee told ABC affiliate KLTV that it's best to avoid the practice.
He bluntly stated, “The best rule of thumb is do not place anything on the internet, on any platform, that you do not want criminals to see." And don't think you're safe just because you maintain strict privacy settings on your account. McLemee added, “Everyone that’s on social media today either has fallen victim to losing their account or they have had friends lose access to their account through a hacker or something like that, so, at any given moment, you could have someone that is in your group, family or friend that does have access to your Facebook … lose their account information to a criminal.”
Not only can online predators target your children and find them in person based on information their parents share on social media, but they can also use your child’s photos to “digitally kidnap” them and steal their identities.
“Criminals can use your child’s image and shared details to create fake profiles and fabricate an online identity,” Trevor Cooke, an online privacy expert at EarthWeb, told the Huffington Post.
“They can then set up unauthorized accounts, apply for credit, and conduct other activities under their name.”
You can never be too careful when it comes to the safety of your children. While the urge to share a photo of them beaming in their first day of school outfit on social media may sound tempting, you may want to save it for the family group chat.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.