I recently read, “Children are not content” with regards to the often posted Instagram or Facebook post or mommy blogs. It’s called “Sharenting” and it’s an interesting, kinda scary, topic.
I think there many sides to every story and lots of opinions and rationales and justifications. So with this post, truly, to each his own, and I do respect the many differences in opinion on this topic, but as a mom and tech/privacy attorney (by day), I definitely have an opinion on the matter. (No, this is not legal advice.)
With regards to children on social media, especially as content, I definitely fall into one camp. I don’t do it. When my son was born, I did not post photos on Facebook nor allow any family to do so. I have never posted a name or any other personal information either. I did post to a private Instagram, photo only, and on the highest security and privacy settings, with only 30 followers who are family and close friends, and I have since deleted those images. By the way, deleting these images was not easy, I had to delete many photos at least twice and some still pop back up – odd and frustrating if you want to delete your own content. Another issue! With all of the data issues in the world today, I just don’t trust anyone on social media with personal information and content about my child. Period.
I recently read, “sharing baby stories is the currency of the new mom” (2) and yes, this is true, but on social media, what is the cost? I am very concerned about the privacy and digital footprint I am leaving for my young son. And notice, I am leaving it, not him. This too is concerning.
An article on this topic highlights the issue, stating, “the problem is less about parents and more about social media platforms. These platforms produce goods and services designed to extract enormous amounts of data from individuals, mine that data for patterns, and use it to influence people’s behavior. While, for instance, “Kodak processed millions of customer photos,” in her book Media Accounting, Humphreys writes, “they did not share that information with advertisers in exchange for access to their customers. In other words, Kodak did not commodify its users.”
Social media platforms do just that. Sharenting tells them what your child looks like, when she was born, what she likes to do, when she hits her developmental milestones and more. These platforms pursue a business model predicated on knowing users – perhaps more deeply than they know themselves – and using that knowledge to their own ends.”(3)
Not to mention, do we really want strangers to our children knowing this information? I think that can lead down some very bad paths. A child may think, this person must be a friend of mommy/daddy if they know all of this information. YIKES!
In addition, parents should at least be aware of and concerned about: Digital or cyber kidnapping, revenge porn, a child’s digital footprint over time, privacy violations, and whether countries should allow people to erase any unwanted digital content, identity theft, humiliation, future discrimination, concerns about developmental issues related to autonomy and consent, and knowing that nothing is ever truly deleted once it’s posted online.
Another mom who decided to not post her child on social media was positive about her decision and wrote, “with next to no child content on my account, I have to highlight other things going on in my life. I have to take more stock of the non-mom activities I do and share those moments, reminding me that I’m a person outside of this role. I love being a mom, but it doesn’t consume me. And it matters that the world sees it doesn’t appear to be consuming me either, as it does so many new parents who suddenly flip from posting beers to posting bassinets.”(2)
In a UK report, Barclays has forecasted that, by 2030 “sharenting” will account for 2/3 of identity fraud, costing hundreds of millions of dollars a year. With just a name, date of birth, and address (easy enough to find in a geotagged birthday party photo on Facebook, for example, or simple google search), bad actors can store this information and then begin opening accounts, or other types of financial harm, including identity theft.(1)
So what is the solution? I don’t have one. For me, it’s to not post. Data breaches will continue to occur, and I get it, babies and kids are the cutest, and as mamas, we are so proud of them. It can be hard not to post, not to over-share. If you are going to post on social media, perhaps post only to one private account with the highest security setting, post less frequently, most importantly, don’t include any PII data, and even limit the post to a subset of family/close friends, definitely not public. The other option is to have a shared album in your photos app that is only shared with specific individuals, and post the photos there.
Knowledge is power, learning is growth. I thought it was worth raising some awareness of this issue. I don’t think it’s discussed enough, perhaps until after a major breach has occurred when it’s too late.
P.S. It is also very important to protect your own photos and PII, (personally identifiable information). NIST provides a definition of PII and, very generally, it includes: any information that can be used to distinguish or trace an individual‘s identity, such as name, social security number, date an/or place of birth, mother‘s maiden name, or biometric records, etc…
Hope you found this helpful. All the best to you, living your best life. Flyourish!
Sources:
2. https://www.glamour.com/story/mom-wont-post-childs-photo-on-social-media
Flyourish 