A Spring Break reminder

 A lot of families are excited this time of year because the warm weather usually means its Spring Break season! Family trips, being outside, and getting a small taste of summer is a great time to refresh, unwind, and renew your energy for the end of the school year (for most families) or maybe its a reset button for your year round 9-5. Either way, this time of year is a great time to remind ourselves of social network and traveling safety.

Imagine this, you're in a great little spot near the edge of the water. The warm sun, the kids are happy and not arguing for the first time all morning, and you're taking pictures in between books you brought and a fun little drink. You want to share this moment with your friends so you open up Instagram, post your photo with a cute little tag #momlife or #beachday or #springbreak. And you go back to relaxing...

That photo is then put on your friend's algorithms to pop up, and they like it as they scroll. Then friends of theirs see they liked it and look at your photo, and the algorithm says hey since you liked this photo, I'll show you more from this person and more photos like it. Then this random person sees another post you made, and likes it. And suddenly they can see everything you've posted on Insta. They now know about your kid's birthday two weeks ago, the Christmas tree you had in December, and the first day of school (wait, is that an emblem on their shirt? Let me look that up and see where this school is....)

Its seriously that easy.

So take a second before you post. Enjoy the moment, take all the photos, text it to a few friends, but please, for the safety of you and your family, keep it off social networking until after you get back!

A few reasons:

1) You're gone? Your house is empty? Easy target. Yes people use social media to see when people are gone, yes its easy to look it up, and yes, they can find your house information based on public data. Your full name is your profile!

2) Your photo of your kids smiling in their cute outfits? It doesn't matter if they're turned around or not (showing faces or not) their likeness can still be used in a way thats dangerous and a little bit nauseating. Don't post them at all!

3) Your location can be tracked based on the image itself. Every time you take a picture, unless you have manually turned it off, your phone tags your image with a location. That location stamp stays with your image and goes wherever you put that picture. Anyone can look at the image details and see that exact location. Turn this off in your phone privacy settings!


Take those trips, make those memories, and keep your family safe this spring break season. Its going to be a great time of year to get outside and do all the things. Spend that time with your families, stay off those devices, and enjoy some sunshine!

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