Sharenting: think before posting photos of your children – 10/01/2023 – Ronaldo Lemos

One of the most characteristic habits of the era of overexposure we are living in is the practice of “sharenting”. The word refers to the habit of fathers and mothers who post photos of their children, including babies, on social media.

This practice is almost irresistible. It is human to want to share the joys and hardships of motherhood and the place to do this today is no longer the photo album that was kept in the drawer, but the internet.

The issue is that most parents don’t think more deeply about what it means to post photos of their children. As privacy researcher Luiza Jarovsky recalled in a recent article, the reason parents post photos of their children is their own interest, not that of the children (who don’t even know what’s going on).

Parents want what everyone else wants: a quick rush of dopamine when their children’s photo gets comments, likes, shares and praise. In other words, they use their children to earn “cookies” on the internet. Including strangers whose parents don’t even know who they are.

If you are a parent and have identified with this situation, know that you are not alone. A study carried out by SecurityORG in the USA determined that 77% of parents share stories, videos or images of their children on social media.

Another study carried out by Nominet in England in 2017 revealed that these parent-sharers post an average of 300 photos of their children per year. By the time a child reaches the age of 5 there are around 1,500 photos of them online.

Posting photos of your children raises important questions. The child is from a different generation than the parents. When you grow up, you may not think it’s positive that you were exposed. Furthermore, much of what is posted online becomes fuel for training artificial intelligence. Children can become digitally identifiable from an early age, through the shape of their iris and other characteristics. Not to mention the risks related to privacy, exposure to strangers and even malicious and unpredictable uses of images.

In 2016, an Austrian newspaper reported the case of an 18-year-old girl who sued her parents for exposing her childhood photos online. In the end it was proven that the article was false. However, an important discussion arose: could children sue their parents for this conduct?

Several European lawyers believe so, either due to misuse of private information or based on personal data protection laws. In a court case in England, a High Court family judge indicated the possibility that children’s right to privacy applies even to their parents.

With this in mind, it is worth asking: what do children gain from the exposure provided by their parents? The answer is generally: nothing. One of the few exceptions are children of celebrities, when parents intend to transfer part of their fame and social capital to their children through social media.

Outside of this hypothesis, which applies to few people, the gain for the child is practically nil. It’s better to think carefully before exposing your children in exchange for dopamine.

READER

It’s over Photos of children in paper and private albums

Already Share your children’s moments online without further reflection

It’s coming Specific concerns about children’s privacy, including in the face of artificial intelligence

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