Take A Pic, Post It To Instagram, & Get A Needy Child A Pair Of Shoes

What is you could help a needy child and it wouldn't cost you a cent?  Now you can! 

Between May 5th and May 21st, the shoe company, Toms will donate a brand new pair of shoes to a child in need and all YOU have to do it take a photo of your bare feet and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #withoutshoes.

Yep, that's it!  Just post a picture of bare feet (your own, your family's, neighbors, etc.) and Toms will give children in the United States and abroad a new pair of shoes. 

Think about it:  YOU can make a real difference to needy children!  For more information on #WITHOUTSHOES, click here.


Spread the word!  This is too easy NOT to share!

THE CIRCLE: Is THIS What The Future Holds?

I could NOT put down THE CIRCLE!

What would happen if Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Paypal, Twitter, the United States government and every other entity that has a piece of your online presence were merged into one picture of you which you could not opt out of and would be harnessed for profit? That’s the premise in the delightfully chilling, modern-day Orwellian book, The Circle by Dave Eggers.

 

The Circle’s mottoes, instituted via methods akin to brainwashing, include “Sharing Is Caring,” “Secrets Are Lies,” and “Privacy Is Theft.”

Mae Holland is hired to work for this thinly-disguised version of Google. At first, it seems utopian as The Circle links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. Quickly, she finds herself “required” to attend company events, take surveys so companies can collect her “likes” and “dislikes” and post online to bump up her ratings in the Circle community. The Circle’s mottoes, instituted in methods akin to brainwashing, include “Sharing Is Caring,” “Secrets Are Lies,” and “Privacy Is Theft.”

Mae becomes part of The Circle’s movement toward “Completion” in which every piece of information about the individual, including those of one’s ancestors, is made available to the company. Will she lose her soul to this cult-like organization which is quickly gaining Internet supremacy?

The book is fascinating because every day this Dystopian reality looms larger.

  

It asks the reader to consider what the consequences are, good and bad, of further centralization of information services and social networking with the voluntary surrender of privacy spun in totalitarian terms as the ultimate act of honesty. Online, every thought, transaction, action and experience we have is stored by some corporation. The Circle resonates because this scenario is completely plausible as we actively give away our information (and that of our children).


Author Egger’s protagonist isn’t the brightest or most well-developed character. There were times that I truly did not like her. She submits to the forces of The Circle far too willingly without thought to the repercussions even as she feels a part of her resisting. Similarly, parts of the book are far too “preachy” – I get it. By being online, we, too, may be giving away part of our souls.
Still, I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! It is so thought-provoking, suspenseful, and creepy. At times, it made me consider shutting down my social media accounts while forcing me to question the positive value of having data on the Web – forever.

Is THE CIRCLE right? Is Privacy a form of theft because others cannot learn from our experiences?

Read it and see if The Circle doesn’t compel YOU to deeply consider your online presence!

 

Please note that this review first appeared on TheGeekParent.com.  

Just Another Reason NOT To Post Photos Of Your Kids On Social Media

I've written before on The Geek Parent (where this article first appeared)  about how parents should never post pictures of their kids on Facebook (read that article here and The Washington Post also has this great article on why this should be on your social media list of “no-nos"). But it goes further than just Facebook. Another issue, this time shedding light on Instagram, has been discovered:

THE PRACTICE OF ROLE-PLAYING WITH PHOTOS OF CHILDREN THAT ARE STOLEN FROM SOCIAL MEDIA SITES

Here's how it works:

Social media users, many of them teenage girls, steal images of babies and kids off the Internet (primarily off Instagram), give the children new names and claim that the kids are theirs. Others comment on the photo as the new “parent” gives details of the child's life with some obsessing over breast-feeding and potty training. Individuals even pretend to be virtual adoption agencies where prospective “parents” can request babies and kids they'd like to adopt (for example, “I'm looking for a little 5-year boy, with olive skin who is of slight build and is feisty.”). The fake adoption agency then finds the person a photo, without the permission of the child's real parents.

SOME DEVIANT ROLE-PLAYERS INDULGE IN FANTASIES ABOUT PHYSICAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE

Sure, many of the comments on the photos are innocuous (“Aww, how cute!”), however, some of the role-players are downright disturbing. The website EssentialBaby.com reported that one Canadian mother found pictures of her baby in a role-playing game and comments were about how the child looked “ugly and disabled.” It gets worse. Some deviant role-players indulge in fantasies about physical and sexual abuse.

So think your photos are safe because of your security settings? Think again. Most IT security people agree that there's only one way to truly ensure that your Internet content stays safe: don't put it out there in the the first place!

THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE SURE YOUR PHOTOS ARE SAFE IS TO NOT UPLOAD THEM TO THE INTERNET IN THE FIRST PLACE

To read more about the practice of role-playing with stolen baby photos, read this article from FastCompany.com which also gives Instagram's response to this truly creepy practice.

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Note:  The Geek Parent's Editor, Kat Mahoney, left a fascinating comment to my article:

"On a side note, there are also safer ways you can post photos of your children without feeling like the whole world is watching. First and foremost is that you can have a private account, which does not allow any followers or viewers unless you approve. This is for any social media network. I have many friends in the security industry that work at Microsoft and if someone is smart enough to hack into your account via private settings, they aren’t interested in your children, they are more interested in bank accounts, loans, and credit fraud. Also, it is wise to talk to your kids about social media and posting photos. For instance, I have control of my kids accounts and they are not public. They share it amongst their friends. - All in all, it is wise to be safe, but you can’t stop your kids from socializing forever in this new generation and the best way is to teach them and to teach them is to talk to them and lead by example. If a parent can’t do that, then their kids will, if they are not already, smarter than them in the coming technological era."

She brings up some interesting points, however, I can't imagine how truly violated and ashamed I'd feel if someone stole my kids' photos and used them for deviant purposes.  I would guess that my children, too, would feel disgusted and embarrassed by those pics as well.  Granted, you can't fully control how others will use photos of your children, but if I can do anything to grant my kids some photographic privacy (never mind that I blog about them without using their real names), I will take those measures even if it means that friends and family can't see those photos online.  

Parents, obviously, the choice is yours.

Thank you for reading!

Why Mom Is On Social Media

I've written before about how much fun I'm having with the DonateAPhoto app (you can read about it here), so recently I took the plunge and joined Instagram. (my user name is momscrayon). When I told my 14 year old about it, he asked, “Why does my Mom need more social media than me?” Excellent question, Kid!

First of all, no one needs social media in the sense that, we can survive, physically, without it. Those of us who lived through a natural disaster like a hurricane or tornado, something which knocks out electricity, know that. But for someone who writes for a living, having many venues to showcase my work is important. At present, I'm on Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin, and now, Instagram, so it's easy to see what I do and sponsors look for you to be on multiple sites.  

Second, you see your friends almost every day. You Skype with them for hours at a time and have plenty of social interaction. I work from home where the only individual I see regularly is the mailman. He's a nice guy, but I think he's getting tired of hearing me blabber on; I mean, the guy has a job to do.  Social contact is important for everyone and social media allows me to have a modicum  of that.

Third, I get quite a bit of my news from Twitter. I learn maintain contact with friends, close and far, via Facebook. Now, I'm getting a visual glimpse into various worlds via Instagram. As you know, the Web is contains a universe of data and it's important to stay current on local and world events. 

Lastly, you, my friend, are 14. You are still developing the social radar you'll need to determine who might be a threat, what you should/should not say, what to believe and what to discount, whether information is valid, etc. You have nothing to sell, no agenda to promote. Your world is largely contained to our house, neighborhood, and town. There is NO reason you need to be spreading yourself around on social media. Your book is unwritten, your time has not yet come.

Do I need social media? Professionally and from an information standpoint, I do. From an social perspective, less so; but it's useful. Someday, I will be gone from this planet.

At some point, you may want to review my digital footprint to learn more about who I was while you were growing up, to touch me, virtually, when I am not here. Then, my beloved son, you will be happy that I was on social media. 

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Thanks for reading!