Click Before You Share That Missing Child Post on Social Media

Please stop sharing those missing kids posts. Before you think I've lost my mind, hear me out.

In 2018 (the most recent year stats are available for) the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children assisted law enforcement and families with 25,000 cases of missing kids. NCMEC is the organization that provides posters and distributes them across the US to help find missing and endangered kids.

As soon as a child disappears, local media (rightly) publicizes a photo and relevant information about the child and the event in the hopes of finding the child safely and quickly. You see those posts spread virally on social media, like Facebook. I see at least two every single day.

It's easy to just click 'share'. Don't. Not until you click through and see if the child has been found. 

I always try to do this. Sometimes, I'll take it a step further and Google the child's name, just to be sure they're still missing.

Let's be honest - we all only have so much attention to invest in social media - let's make sure the kids we're sharing are the ones that really need to be seen - so they can make it home.

Otherwise, just like everything else, those missing kids will begin to fade into the noise of all the other posts you see on social media.

Share away, but check first.