I know a lot of people who are up in arms over the most recent Terms of Service modifications on Facebook because they worry about not having ownership over content that is uploaded online.  While it’s a relevant conversation to today’s Internet world, I can’t help but look ahead towards future Internet users who have no say in the matter at all.

The Digital Parent’s Dilemma

There are times when I see pieces of user-generated content floating around my timeline – Flickr photos of families, Saturday soccer games, Twitpics of birthday parites, Qik videos of toddlers running around in their diapers.  All the while, I keep thinking about the kids being documented and I just tell myself, “Thank goodness my parents didn’t have access to this stuff when I was three.”

There are betamax videos of myself taken when I was little that will never be on Youtube. There are awkward school photos of myself that will only ever be displayed on my family’s fireplace mantle.  Lucky for me, I became an adult before the Internet gave rise to the social web.  Consequently, I always had the ability to choose when I would create an online presence for myself and what that would consist of.

For many children of the digital age, they simply won’t have the choice.

Parental Terms of Service in a Web 2.0 World

As the child of a digital immigrant, you are subject to the following Terms and Conditions (upon birth):

“You hereby grant your parents an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), content featuring you.  This content may be (i) Posted on or in connection with the websites and social networks that will (a) enable other users to post on other properties and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the services or the promotion thereof.

[modified from Facebook's new terms of service]

Realistically, I don’t think many kids will care when they see that they’re Google-able before age five, but this raises important questions regarding the future of parenting and privacy.  Is it okay for parents to share their kids online without their consent?  I know tons of parents who have already made this choice (some even pick baby names based on domain name availability) and I often question whether kids will grow up feeling a little bit violated.  I went through my phases of teen angst in middle school and I can only imagine what kind of backlash parents are going to feel when their teens come locked and loaded with statements like, “You put me on Youtube and my friends found the video! I hate you!”

With sites like baveo and totspot, which both offer social features for expecting parents, the rise of the digital fetus is certainly upon us. Hopefully for parents, it won’t mean the rise of the angry teen.

Are you a digital parent? If so, how do you decide what goes up on the web and what doesn’t?

• Your blog is your resume
• You must establish your personal brand
• You must use your site as a storefront, a store where you’re selling one product – yourself.

As a result, I feel pressure to write posts about “smart” things complete with”smart” commentary.  I feel the need to write about topics related to the social media landscape, all from the perspective of my twentysomething viewpoint.  I feel the need to cater this blog to an audience of people who I want to get to know me, people who might hire me, who might work with me, people who I respect and admire.  Like the bullet points on any job description, I want my posts to showcase who I am and what I do.

At the same time, I still have to embrace who I am outside of the social media bubble. I am a person, a young female who has insecurities, doubts, and dreams.  I can’t write like the A-list bloggers I read because I simply don’t have the experience or the authority to project that same voice.  I want to blog about my friends and silly stupidnes that ensues when we get together.  I want to blog about how much I enjoyed Iron Man and how much I cried when I went to watch Sex & the City at midnight on Thursday.  I want to blog about my relationships, the move I’m about to make to Boston, the absurdity of politics in America, the ignorance of the average person, the awesomeness that is Wii, and also how desperately I want to get my nails done today.

Most of the time when I don’t post, it’s not because I don’t have a lot to say, it’s because I have too much to say.  I get wrapped up in thinking about what I *should* write, that I skip over what I *feel* and *need* to write, to the point where I just don’t do it at all.

I realize I acknowledged this in previous posts I wrote, but it’s so much easier to dish out advice than execute it yourself.  That said, I’m remotivating myself to be a better blogger by posting more.  I think I can establish myself professionally without having to compromise myself personally.  Hopefully both voices will be heard in the posts to follow.

I’ll leave off with an excerpt from one of my favorite movies, Across the Universe:

“What you do defines who you are.”

“No. Who you are defines what you do.”

“It doesn’t matter what you do.  It’s how you do it.”

The book is clearly stirring up controvery and it’s not just on my timeline. Last week, Boston.com published a list of 8 reasons why this is the dumbest generation and the link received 2015 Diggs. As referenced by Chapel in her tweet above, the Wall Street Journal also wrote about the book while CNET mentioned it in a blog post.

It’s doesn’t surprise me that there’s this much talk about the topic since Bauerlein is essentially targeting the most vocal demographic of Americans out there – loud, opinionated, and highly communicative Generation Y-ers who he might as well rename “Generation Epic Fail.”

According to Bauerlein’s thesis, no one under the age of 30 can be trusted. I am a member of this so-called “dumbest generation”, someone who is supposedly stupefied by excessive amounts of time in front of my computer, and engrossed in activities that deplete my intellectual curiosity and impede my ability to communicate like a real human being.

Under most circumstances, I’m open to constructive criticism, but I’m having a hard time reading this book with an open mind. I want to point out that based on what I’ve seen in the introduction alone, Bauerlein’s thesis is inherently flawed because of the framework he uses to discuss his argument. To paraphrase, Bauerlein says that his book is not about the cultural attitudes and social trends of today’s youth. Instead, it is only focused on asserting the fact that intellect amongst this generation is severely lacking.

Now according to Merriam-Webster, intellect is defined as, “the power of knowing as distinguished from the power to feel and to will : the capacity for knowledge.

Bauerlein argues that while this generation has a great expanse of knowledge readily available at all times, the majority fail to actually access or process it. Instead, individuals are immersed in a series of meaningless, impersonal exchanges, consisting of passed on, unprocessed bits of information. We can retrieve data whenever we want to, but our failure to recall it is a skill we sorely lack.  In other words, we are plugged-in, but mentally tuned out.

I don’t think I’ll ever accept any argument that categorizes me as being dumb or destined to fail.  That said, I’ll keep reading and look forward to the discussions that will ensue.  If you’ve read this book or plan on it, I’d love to hear what you think.

Follow up posts will happen along the way…

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