I propose that all 17 year olds be given an amnesty over all profiles, data, updates, images and personal information held on social networks before they reach adulthood. If it is not obvious why, here is a little confession.
When I was 15 I did things that I am ashamed of. The friends that were with me know about it. But that’s all.
Cover of Kurt Cobain's Journal
No one need ever know about the time we ran over the roofs of whole street of cars in Kilburn, after spending the evening drinking in the pubs there. If I was daft enough to post this fact on a blog as a adult, that would be my choice. If I was daft enough to state facts and implicate friends in the criminal activity of that evening, then I would be legally liable and disloyal.
Kurt Cobain did not want people to read his journals – “If you Read, You’ll Judge”. He was absolutely right and, once he lost control of his privacy, his fear of being judged pushed him into some dark places – from which he never came back.
But, as someone over 25 (40, in fact), who is not famous, I have almost complete control over my past. I can edit and recreate my life to fit the audience or situation I am in. I can choose what people know about me. Bad haircuts, bands that I obsessed over, my politics, my religious views, when I lost my virginity and who to…. All this information belongs to me. No employer, no friend, no neighbour or marketing department can find this stuff out unless I want them too.
Consider the 15 year olds of today. Facebook and Google, amongst others, have a complete record of most of the waking life of the average teen, and intends to retain that ‘data’ for eternity. VLEs, schools networks and similar networks
I attended Playing it Safe , #KidzOnline, an event on children’s online safety in London, organised by the IT industry trade organisation, Intellect. There was a great discussion, and some interesting perspectives and debate – mostly around ‘block it’ vs ‘inform, educate and talk about it’. But the young people there – under 18 and very smart – reminded us regularly that this was their information, conversations and relationships that we were talking about. They wanted to be safe, but they wanted these experiences to be part of their identity, not managed by adults into a walled garden of selected people, products and ideas. They needed to be able to create their own realities and make mistakes (and maybe even be in some danger!) – just as we did.
Given that very few children are mature and knowledgable to have managed this data carefully, many will have indiscretions and poor decisions mapped against their names and easily discoverable, by something as simple as a Google Search.
Even if they try to hide/delete information from public view – as Facebook Timeline has shown many of us – nuggets will pop up to the surface thought buried and deleted. The point is, we humans mostly forget. But the servers don’t. This takes power away from young people and puts it in the hands of those able to exploit this information.
This situation is wrong and needs a simple solution.
I have one. A Teen Amensty.
I propose that all the social networks are legally required to give 17 year olds exactly 12 months to edit all updates and data on their systems. Not to add or falsify data, but to remove and redact anything that might be embarrassing.
Children should be able to download this data for private storage, so that these memories are not lost completely. After all, there is great joy to be had in rediscovering your teenage self through diaries, photos, and ‘creations’ .
All we need is for all systems that host and (currently) own data created by kids give it back, for one year. Once that child becomes an adult – they press ‘Publish’ and the responsibility for taking control over their online selves, becomes theirs – as adults.
I think this is a neat solution and would like to raise the profile of this simple idea to pressure the social networks into making this possible.
What do you think? Please tell me if you think this is workable? Would you support it?
4 Responses to Smells like Teen Amnesty