What’s wrong with this teacher? 

Have you ever seen someone on a TV show with a blurred-out face and wondered why? When I was a kid watching What Would You Do, I was always miffed about why some random people in the background of the shot would have their faces blurred out. The reason for the censorship is that those people didn’t sign release forms allowing the production company to air their faces on television. We have a right to privacy, and if a TV show is being filmed in the diner you’re eating at without your knowledge, you have the right not to be on said TV show. A lot of people would love to be on TV, so they sign release forms without a problem, but you have to respect those who don’t want their image broadcast to millions. 

Maintaining privacy has become much more difficult when everyone and their mother is on social media. Somebody can take a video of you without your permission, post it online for all to see, and you could never know about it! In some countries, it’s illegal to record somebody without their consent, but in the United States, you’re not going to be thrown in jail for that. A lot of people claim that Gen Z is so antisocial because they’re afraid of being recorded in public and posted online, which is a valid fear if you’ve seen hundreds of instances of people going viral and being widely mocked for doing banal things. 

The mom in this story is honoring her 5-year-old son’s basic right to privacy by not posting him on social media. When her son’s school pressured her into letting them post pictures of him online, she didn’t back down. Why should a teacher need to post a student on social media anyway?