My sister's kid asked me why I have a sticker over my laptop camera

I was helping my niece with her homework in Chicago last weekend and she pointed at the black dot on my laptop. I told her it was for privacy, and she just said 'but my school tablet watches us all the time for tests.' It made me think about how we teach kids to protect their privacy while also putting them in systems that don't. Has anyone else had to explain this kind of double standard to a younger person?

2 comments

2 Comments

robinson.leo1d ago

My school tablet in Chicago actually doesn't have a camera.

thompson.tyler1d ago

That's a tough spot. It gets into the idea of consent, which kids get on a playground but not from tech. A school tablet watching them is a condition for using it, not a choice they made. Your sticker is a choice you made for your own device. Explaining that difference, between forced monitoring and personal steps for privacy, is the real challenge.