Civil Rights For Minors

The right to be forgotten, or the right to have personal information deleted from the internet and/or any other devices, ought to be a civil right for minors due to the foolish mistakes of minors, the backlash of past relationships, and the criminal records of juveniles are already being expunged. A common thought that doesn’t cross the average internet users mind is, the permanency of their posts and/or actions. This trend occurs mostly in minors up to the age of twenty-one. According to the Pew Research Center, ninety-five percent of teens use social media, thirty-seven percent own smartphones, eighty percent own a computer, twenty-three percent own a tablet, ninety-one percent post pictures of themselves, and fifty-eight percent of teens …show more content…
When people hear about widespread leaks they usually refer to the ones of celebrities, but the recent leak on Snapchat was users that were members of the general public. These victims weren’t movie stars, athletes, models, or singers, they were everyday people, most of them being thirteen to seventeen-year-old students. Not only were 4.6 million usernames and phone numbers given out but also thirteen Gigabytes of risque photos were released on the internet for everyone to see (Snider). That’s one hundred thousand photos, of primarily minors, and that number is constantly growing today. Snapchat isn’t the only case, we have also seen a rise in what is being labeled as “revenge porn”. This is when a person receives explicit photos and/or other media from the sender and then when they are angered (usually after a breakup or a fight) they post them to websites or other peers. A combination of these two plus other minor embarrassments, such as duck faced selfies, a video of you dancing in a giant taco costume, or even a rant about your mom, make for an online legacy that can not be lived down, that is unless minors have the right to be forgotten as a civil right. Paul Bernal said it best when he was quoted saying, “One of the perennial problems on the internet is the idea that whatever appears is there …show more content…
The human brain doesn’t actually look like an adult 's brain to approximately the age of twenty-three (“The Teen Brain: Still Under Construction”). In adolescence, the gray matter in the brain is low. Gray matter is what processes pertinent information and allows you to think with your head rather than your emotions. In this age group, emotional responses are on high alert while impulsive reactions are in their prime. This explains the erratic decisions of teenagers, they tend to not take the time to process the consequences of their actions. The last thing teens are thinking about when in the heat of the moment is whether or not the person on the other side of the screen is sharing the intimate moment with millions, or that the picture of them holding a beer when they were sixteen would keep them from getting a job. These decisions will forever be omnipresent to their online legacy. This is even more damaging today than ever before and will increase due to the transition into a more digital