Sharenting is a term coined by online parents to describe the sharing of photos of their children on social media sites. Sites like Facebook and Instagram have made it easier than ever to share photos with friends and family, so whether you’re new to sharenting or have been doing it for a while, we’ll help you get a handle on this modern phenomenon. We’ll also explain why sharenting can be dangerous but also how you can protect your child from photo hackers and cyberbullies while still allowing everyone who cares about your child to see his or her pictures. Let’s begin…
Sharenting is the sharing of photos of children on social media sites. Parents who are new to sharenting often have concerns about cyberbullying, online predators, and the privacy of their child. Parents who are experienced with sharenting can easily fall into a similar trap and over-protect their child. We work to keep these concerns at the forefront so you can make the best decision for your child. Sharenting can range from sharing a few photos to posting daily videos or even posting your child’s handwritten homework. Parents who are new to sharenting often find themselves sharing fewer photos than a parent who is experienced with sharenting. This is because new parents tend to be less comfortable sharing photos online.
The average parent shares almost 1,500 images of their child before their fifth birthday, and more than 80% of children will have an online presence by the age of two. A 2018 study by Barclays Bank forecasted that sharenting will account for two-thirds of identity fraud affecting young people by the decade’s end, producing 7.4 million incidents by 2030.
Sharenting has become a popular way for parents to connect with friends and family online. The sharing of photos of your child online can be an amazing way to stay connected with friends, family, and others who are going through the same experience as you. However, sharenting also carries risks. Social media sites allow you to share photos of your child with others. Since the majority of social media sites are designed to be public, sharing photos of your child online can put your child at risk for cyberbullies, online predators, and photo theft.
If you’re new to sharenting and don’t fully understand the risks of sharenting, your child could be at risk for cyberbullying, online predators, and photo theft. New parents often believe that sharenting is a great way to stay connected with friends and family, and they mistakenly assume that social media sites are private. However, social media sites are generally public, and most are designed to be public.
Here we share a list of the risks involved with sharenting from the cyber security experts at VPN Overview:
1. No such thing as ‘private’
Most parents who post pictures of their children online will be doing so on a privacy-protected social media account. Unfortunately, these privacy settings offer a false sense of security. Even photos of your children posted on closed accounts can be screenshotted and redistributed to larger audiences. It has become increasingly clearer that as soon as you post something online, you’ve effectively lost control over it. Even home cameras or baby monitors can all generate digital data that could end up in the wrong hands.
2. Digital kidnapping
Identity theft is a major risk associated with sharenting. Parents may unknowingly be putting their children at risk by including confidential information. These stats are a testament to this:
- 45.2% of posts that feature children on Facebook, also mention the child’s name.
- 19% of posts on Instagram that feature children reference both name and date of birth. If this data were to be combined with social security information obtained illegally on the dark web, digital kidnapping would become a serious risk.
3. Sexual exploitation
Where there are children online, there are sexual predators. Investigators looking into child abuse online have found that tens of millions of photos of children shared on social media resurface on pornographic platforms. Even if the material itself is not explicit, the commentary on them often is on these platforms. Moreover, the photos could be digitally manipulated to take on a sexual nature.
As a parent, you must be mindful of what you post. Posting holiday snaps from the beach with your child in swimwear can seem innocent, but the image can easily be abused.
4. Emotional harm
Despite a parent’s good intentions, kids may grow up to be embarrassed by certain online content posted without their consent. The negative consequences of a digital footprint may only follow years after the fact, but in some cases, public humiliation on social media is used as a parenting technique. In 2016, an 18-year-old girl in Austria sued her parents for sharing over 500 photos of her with their Facebook friends. She claimed that these photos, depicting her in extremely personal ways, have had very negative real-life consequences.
5. Metadata
Digital photos of your children, as it turns out, say more about them than you might think. Metadata is attached to each photo that we post on social media sites and tells third parties all sorts of things about what is in the photo, where it was taken, and what type of person posted it. Data brokers work hard to build social profiles of internet users allowing companies to build a digital dossier on users that tells them exactly what they are most likely to click on.
The manipulative power of these types of systems is far-reaching and dangerous, especially regarding children’s data. Letting information about your child become subject to surveillance is risky.
6. Online permanence
Many big tech companies have terms and conditions that give them the rights to user-generated content. By posting photos on social media, you are effectively handing over ownership of your photos to corporate companies, which makes removing photos very difficult. These photos of your children can live on forever on the internet, giving a sense of permanence to a child’s identity.
Could future employers or university admissions offices deny your child future opportunities because they have found an online video of your child having a tantrum? It is difficult to look into the future and know for certain what could happen to the photographs and videos of your children, but you must ask yourself if it is worth the risk.
7. Lack of legislation
There is little to no regulation for sharing photos online. You might be able to access a website’s privacy policy, but chances are these will be long and incomprehensible. Getting a photograph removed may prove to be quite difficult unless you suspect sexual exploitation. In the UK, The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) was created to protect children from sexual abuse online. Parents can contact CEOP to report any online grooming or sexual abuse.
Sharenting can be dangerous, but there are ways to protect your child from sharenting safely. First and foremost, social media sites are not private. They are designed to be public, and that is why they are so popular. The majority of people who use social media sites are doing so publicly.
The top five ways to protect children from sharenting are:
- Switch to private emails instead of sharing content on social media
- Avoid nudity and partial nudity
- Limit confidential information
- Get your child’s consent
- Never share photos of other people’s children
Conclusion
Sharenting can be a great way for parents to stay connected with their friends and family, but it comes with risks. Social media sites are generally designed to be public, and most people who use social media sites are sharenting publicly. If you are new to sharenting, keep these risks in mind. Be careful not to overprotect your child by sharenting photos of him or her. Instead, help your child become more comfortable sharenting by slowly increasing the amount of time he or she spends online, while also helping your child get comfortable sharenting online by slowly introducing him or her to the idea of sharenting.
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