Progressology

1 note

Matt Richtel’s recent NYT article on teenagers who share their Facebook passwords as a show of affection has raised alarms with parents and educators who worry about the potential for bullying and abuse.

But as danah boyd points out the practice of password-sharing didn’t start with kids: it started with parents, who required their kids to share their passwords with them. Young kids have to share their passwords because they lose them, and older kids are made to share their passwords because their parents want to snoop on them. Basically, you can’t tell kids that they must never, ever share their passwords and require them to share their passwords.