What Momma Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Her

If I received this prompt 5 years ago, I would hate to think my future self would have nearly flip-flopped my standpoint. While I have no personal experience of having my privacy request denied or violated, I have friends who had the privacy that shouldn’t have and provide a perfect example of why children don’t have the same right to privacy that adults do.

Kids in my grade had access to a phone and the internet at an early age, as did I, but I had more strict parenting. This person, an acquaintance of mine, we’ll call him Superman, liked to test his limits. Superman made sure everyone knew he had a phone, sneaking it into the lunchroom or recess, any time he had the chance he’d show his friends and others that he had a phone on him. I found this particularly odd when one day he wasn’t flaunting his device, his mood was off as well. I didn’t put much thought into it and went on with my day.

Come to find out, Superman had his phone taken away. It wasn’t long until we finally cracked Superman, and he told us why he was without a phone. One night his parents asked him for his phone, and they went through it while he was busy. They found something unsavory on the popular messaging app, SnapChat. Superman had been consistently and oftentimes using expletive words in his chats. SnapChat has a function that chats delete after viewing or 24 hours, no matter what unless manually saved. Without Superman’s knowledge, his friend whom he often used those words in conversation, was saving some of the times Superman swore. Upon investigation, Superman’s parents found his phone and found the saved messages.

Prior to this, Superman’s parents had no idea and no inclination to believe he would do such a thing because Superman was a good student and showed no signs in the class of a likeliness to use such words. I suppose they assumed he would use the privilege of the internet wisely and not do anything he shouldn’t. They couldn’t have been more wrong. Superman was using the language outside of my understanding. He got his phone taken INDEFINITELY. Could be a week, could be until he turned 18. I think he got it back a year or so later, but justice was served.

While Superman never went on inappropriate sites, made threats online, or did other malicious or inappropriate behavior on the internet, (to my knowledge!), he still acted outside the boundaries of his parents. It’s relatively “light” in terms of what some people are capable of with technology, but it’s a great example of why you should keep an eye on your children, or give them limited privacy. Had his parents never checked on his phone, he could have easily gotten himself in danger or involved with things no adult should even be around or view! You may think your child would never go behind your back or use privacy to their advantage, kids are curious! Have you ever heard the phrase, “What momma don’t know won’t hurt her”?

Featured Image: “Question Mark” by ryanmilani is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Image 1: “No Tresspassing, Detroit Michigan” by sharghzadeh is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Image 2: “[adult swim] ‘Censored’ Billboard” by Scott Beale is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.