Online-selling Scouts likely at greater risk from one another than from digital trolls
When the Girl Scouts announced this week that the organization will begin allowing its members to sell their trademark cookies through mobile apps and websites for the first time, leaders stressed that they’ve spent five years working out potential security concerns with girls making website sales.
Not everyone is satisfied. Although the individually created sites will be accessible only through e-invites from their young creators, we know too well no one’s personal info is 100 percent protected once they venture into the digital world.
But after reading the concerns and potential problematic scenarios, I maintain that the online sales experiment is, on balance, a very good thing. What better way to teach business entrepreneurship to young women?
I think Forbes sent just the right message to the young women by reacting with some great e-commerce tips to help the sellers ensure success. The expanded sales idea fits well into a series of business Innovation badges that the Scouts have created as part of their STEM emphasis. (Kudos to the Girl Scouts for also offering a financial literacy series as part of the STEM-oriented badges.)
Some will cry horrors about the idea of 2.3 million Girl Scouts set loose on the internet for potential predators and hackers to prey upon. But how naive is that? Chances are that most of the Scouts are already experienced hands on Facebook or one of the social media tools — whether Pinterest or Instagram — that have pushed Facebook into the background.
Parental control — and adult good judgment — is the key to whether online cookie sales turn into a cause for concern. And as these latest headlines prompt parents to pay a little extra attention to protecting their daughters from trolls, let’s hope they also give some thought to making sure those young women are treating one another fairly in their online lives.
A recent Time piece, pegged to a new study showing that Instagram is the go-to app for three-quarters of teens, dug into some of the slimy ways girls are using the tool to take Mean Girls drama to a vicious new level.
We usually hear only about the devastating online bullying that ends in tragedy. Far more common is the prevalent drip-drip-drip mean-spirited behavior that young people suffer under in silence. The Girl Scouts have a whole series of badges designed to combat that scourge. Parents of Scouts can do their part by encouraging their daughters explore those programs and leading the fight to stop stuff like Instagram slam books.
Two-million-plus girls spreading that message would be sweetness every bit as satisftying as that box of Thin Mints.