Do you put photos of your child on social media?
Someone close to me said they were not going to put photos of their newborn child on social media, for safety. But this isn’t what happened. Photos of child are on social media all the time, as are photos of mine.
There are disturbing stories about children’s photos being shared without permission, sold or used for profit, and being collected by those who would do them harm. Yet more and more parents are sharing photos of their children on their personal and public social media.
There are concerns for the child’s privacy and right to consent. Concerns about the focus on image for children’s self esteem, and for the way these photos can be shared, and who owns them.
But there is a desire to connect with other parents, with friends and family who may not see the children any other way. And there is a normalising of the personal being made public. This normalisation may not be a problem for those raised and becoming adults in that climate as much as it seem to those from a more private period in history. But we also cannot know what the children growing up on camera now will think when they are the grown ups.
So what can we do?
How do we balance sharing photos and maintaining privacy? How to we make use of social media to connect with others through our children’s stories while still protecting our loved ones from being exposed in dangerous ways?
Personally I have a few ways I try to contain my children’s images on the internet.
No nude photos. Ever. Same goes for anything I’d consider “private.” That means no sharing photos on the toilet, even though I have some really funny ones with a toddler and their gumboots. If my children choose to share naked photos of themselves that should be their business.
The vast majority of photos of my children are shared in private invite only groups, open only to my family and real life friends. Some photos are shared to my wider online friend community and a minimal amount are shared to my public social media. Sharing photos is mostly, for me, a modern way of sharing a slide show with friends or passing around snaps at a family gathering.
This mentality keeps my children’s images on the free internet to a minimum. And the photos that are there show them always fully clothed and are not embarrassing or private.
Do you put photos of your child on social media?
If you do, have you have any rules for yourself?
If you don’t, how do you share photos with those who wish to see them?
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