Mother’s Facebook lesson to 12-year-old daughter gets out of hand

ONE woman wanted to teach her twelve-year-old daughter a valuable lesson about the reach of social media. It soon spiralled out of control.

Facebook posts can quickly go viral, as one mother discovered. Picture: AP

AN American mother who attempted to teach her daughter a lesson about Facebook use wound up getting blasted by others.

In an effort to show her daughter how quickly something can spread online, Kira Hudson this week posted a public photo of the young girl and asked her Facebook friends to share it. She had the girl pose with a sign that read, “3/18/14: Mom is trying to show me how many people can see a picture once it’s on the internet.”

In a screenshot of the post, Hudson explained, “My 12-year-old daughter doesn’t understand why she can’t have an Instagram or Facebook account ... Please ‘like and Share’ ... She just doesn’t get it!”

Kira Hudson’s original post soon got shared far and wide.

But Hudson probably didn’t expect the photo of her daughter to wind up on 4chan, an image-based bulletin board. Users on the random imageboard /b/ eventually found Hudson’s Facebook page, home address and phone number, according to the Daily Dot. On Wednesday, the mother received prank calls, and pizzas were delivered to her house. Some also edited the original photo to include an obscene message.

Apparently, other 4chan users wanted to teach Hudson a lesson about public shaming:

One 4chan user doctored the photo to get a different message across.

Hudson eventually removed the photo, which had almost 1 million likes.

These sorts of posts might get a lot of attention on social media, but parenting experts do not recommend jumping on the public humiliation bandwagon. Alfie Kohn, author of Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason, previously told the Huffington Post public shaming is “counterproductive” and will “never achieve any result beyond temporary compliance, and it does so at a disturbing cost.”

A child is likely to view the parent as an “enforcer” versus an “ally,” Kohn added. It could also make the child believe “the reason not to steal (or lie or hurt people) isn’t because of how it affects others but because of the consequence you, yourself, will face if you’re caught.”

Hudson later issued a statement about her experiences:

“I am very grateful to all of the parents who have messaged my daughter and me, letting us know that because of our “experiment,” they were able to teach their own children more about Internet safety. This was one lesson that both my daughter and I learned very quickly! I had not anticipated it gaining momentum as fast as it did. It certainly opened my eyes to the fact that I thought my own private Facebook was secure. It was not as secure as I thought. Luckily for us, the information that was gathered by others was not my current residence or phone number.

I would like to apologize to the family who is living at our old address and let them know that I hope this hasn’t caused them much distress and the next pizza will be a gift from me. This whole thing has really proven the point, and I am hopeful that even though there have been a few bumps, others can continue to learn from our experience.”

This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post.