...that is the question.
Let me start off by saying, I am a big supporter of technology. I enjoy using technology both personally and professionally. I am an online instructor and, when I was working full-time outside the home, my job title was "Instructional Technology Specialist" where I encouraged and taught teachers how to use technology with students in their classrooms. I strongly believe in using technology to help kids experience learning. I believe if technology is kept out of the classroom, our students will be behind when they enter the work force.
However - when it comes to my own personal life, how much do I reveal? We all have heard those stories of people who have shared too much information (or pictures) online and gotten into trouble. Things like their identity has been stolen, pictures they posted were used against them, or, worse, people used the information found to do harm. I am careful what I post online - I always have been, but now that I have children I am even more cautious because I don't want my children harmed or used in any negative way because of information posted online.
I still post pictures to facebook, but I am very selective whom I allow to see those pictures (you can set up lists and put certain people on those lists and then when you post something, you can choose who sees the pictures or information). The people I put on the list are people that I trust and people that I know are interested in hearing and seeing about my girls and how they are doing.
So - fast forward to now and me considering getting back into blogging a lot more than I have been. On the positive side, blogs are a great way for your friends and family to know what is going on in your world. I also feel it is a great legacy to leave my girls because they can go back and read things I've posted. The fact that once something is out there, it is out there, is actually a negative as well. Again - the reason that I'm super careful about what I post online. I also find reading other people's blogs - especially people like me that are raising kids, provides comfort in knowing I'm not going through this alone. I can find encouragement and ideas from others like me. Maybe, in my blogging, someone that I've never even met before can benefit from something I have or am experiencing and I journal/blog.
On the negative side are all of those things I've mentioned previously - the using of information negatively, or, to do harm.
There are a couple of options I have and can work with my blog giving me the privacy I need. There is an option which allows me to choose if anyone can read my blog, only blog authors can read my blog, or I can actually allow only certain people to read my blogs (I have to put in email addresses and give permission to these people - and they have to log in every time to read). If I choose to only allow certain people to read, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of a blog? Couldn't I just, then, send out an email to those people with the same information?
Another option is giving my girls "code" names and trying as much as possible not to give certain details, but, then again, how is that keeping friends and family up with what is happening in our lives?
I think I've come to the conclusion that, if I'm going to blog, I'm just going to do it and while I can be careful and not give out too much personal information, I am going to have to let go of some of the issue I have with sharing some of the information and pictures.
So what is the solution? What do you do? Do you post pictures in your blogs? How much personal information do you share? What do you think and suggest?
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