SHOULD WE POST PICTURES OF OUR KIDS ON THE INTERNET?

It is in our nature as human to share whatever we have. We are so generous and behave as such. It is also the case in our lives from real one to unreal. By the mean of Social Media, it is easier to share everything we want. Currently, some people share even the pictures of their innocent babies. It becomes a delicate topic because they do not aware of the risk it can provide. They are already making « Sharenting», the act of posting picture of one’s kids online.

Naturally, it is normal for an internaut or social media doer to post pictures of their kids online. However, when we analyse, it can be risky to post them online.

YES WE SHOULD

Nowadays, we want a child so much and when we finally are pregnant, it really is a big deal. Some family use social media as a tool of communication. They connect via it to keep getting in touch. It is necessary for them to post photos of their kids online in order for their families who live a miles away to know what happen in their lives. They can be informed through the photo the age, name, colour of eyes of their niece or nephew. As we know, Facebook gives review of all your photos if you have been friends with someone for a year. They even make a video of all photos posted during that year. It becomes a memory for the 2 persons. Imagine the importance of this if the 2 persons belongs to the same family but live a miles away. That is touching especially if you see the evolution of your child since he/she was born if you post many photos of them online. Posting one’s child photos online ties connection with all part of family who live separately.

Sometimes, it is just an envy to share one’s happiness. Referring to a new born, the mother want to share her joyful to her acquaintance. It is among human welfare to have support or to get support especially from people they cherish. She is sure to get this kind of support online as many people will see the post that she shared. Once again, the fact that posting a new born photo does not affect only the person who shares it but also the one who sees it.

People use social media as a forum to talk about everything and anything. Most of the time, mothers are more affected by this. They think that posting some photos of their kids can resolve their own matters. They want to have others opinion to make decision. For instance, a mother posted three or four photos of her little girl dressing up with three or four different clothes. She wants people’s opinion to decide which one suits her girl the best. It is always beneficial to get others point of view and align it with ours to get the good decision.

NO WE SHOULD NOT

Parents are not aware of the fact that posting their kids pictures online may provoke cyberbullying toward their kids. Social media is of course the best tool to communicate with the world but do not forget that it can disconnect you from it. Parents do not know what kind of people may see their kids pictures. Wrongdoer can take also photos of your child. In that case, parents can not do anything for protecting their kids.

Pictures posted online are mostly posted by friends of the parents. Parents are often not know that their kids photos are online unless someone tells them or discover it by chance. There is no privacy policies to post such photo neither agreement from parents. Everybody who has or takes photo of others kids can post it. One of the concrete case is the story of a mother who authored a blog post featuring her young twins during potty training, written by Steinberg. After sharing all photos online with legs exposed, it is said that a paedophile downloads and alters these pictures and uses them.

SECURITY OF PRIVACY TO PREVENT THESE ISSUES

USE OF PRIVACY POLICIES

You have to familiarize with the account you share your pictures. Get to know well all privacy policies when you are going to share or post your child pictures. For example, when you post an image on Facebook, make it as private view not public one. It limits the number of people who sees your photo and reduces risk of cyberbullying.

NO NUDE PICTURES OF YOUR CHILD

Parents lack consciousness when they take photo or their child undressed. Sure, they are kids but always think about the risk it may cause. If you want to have bared photos of your child, keep it in your cellphone or smartphone. You can review it whenever you want and you are the only one who can see it. Do not forget that in life, if something is supposed to be private, it should stay as so. There are no benefits for you if you share such image of your kids. It will cause problems otherwise

LOOK FORWARD WHEN SHARING

Parents, you should always focus on future not the present day. Always keep in your mind the impact of what you do today. If you are going to share photo of your children, anticipate the impact of it on their lives in the future. We cannot deny the fact that it is « so cute » to post child photo, nevertheless look forward to what will be their life in twenty or thirty years. Imagine, they become a politician and what will be their followers reaction when they find their background online? You can even imagine their future, so be consciousness when sharing or posting photo of them.

Social media can tell more to say little. It means you do not imagine what is the real life behind screen. You do not even know every people who pass through your profile. The wise decision you should do is to avoid problem for you and your family by keeping them away from social media. If something is considered as private, it should stay as so, no matter what it is.