Sharenting is a practice carried out by some parents consisting of posting photos, videos or any other type of information about their children on social networks. From the first ultrasounds, to their first steps, birthday parties, vacations, loss of the first teeth, school festivals … Any event in the life of a child is likely to be shared on the Internet by some parents.
According to data from the ‘EU Kids Online 2019’ study , 89% of Spanish families share images or videos of their children with an approximate frequency of once a month, and only 24% of them request their prior consent.
We remind you of the consequences that this practice may entail and what the experts recommend to protect the privacy of minors.
Building your fingerprint from birth
The desire of families to document the daily life of their children , share their experiences and make others participate in their achievements and evolution has caused the Internet to flood with photographs and information of minors in relevant events of their lives and that can extend into adolescence.
It is what is known as ‘sharenting’, a term that comes from English formed by share (sharing) and parenting (paternity) and whose relevance has been so high in recent years that in 2016 the British Collins dictionary included it in its pages.
Sharing this content is creating a digital footprint for them , sometimes even before they are born. An example of this is the boom in the monitoring of pregnancies in networks. So much so that on Instagram alone there are 19.4 million posts with the hashtag #pregnant, 24.9 million posts with the hashtag #newborn and a total of 191 million with #baby.
The risks of sharenting
The fact that minors have a “digital album” of their most anecdotal experiences could have very negative consequences. And the thing is that the Internet entails risks that many times we are not aware of , since the moment we publish or send a photograph we no longer have control of its scope.
Among the most common risks of ‘sharenting’, experts point out the following:
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Being victims of fraud, cyberbullying and even pedophilia , since the images we share provide personal data of our children that could be used against them. Not surprisingly, a few months ago we echoed the case of a mother who had discovered photos of her baby on a pedophile site, after someone stole the photos that she had uploaded to the network and shared them on a pedophile website.
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It can affect the self-esteem and confidence of minors , since it takes away part of their privacy. In fact, according to a study published by Microsoft, 42% of children are ashamed of the information and personal photos that their parents upload to the Internet.
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Certain photographs or published information may affect the reputation of the child , harming him in his social environment or at school.
There are already rulings that oblige parents to remove their children’s photographs from the Internet
In fact, at the European level there are already a large number of sentences that force families to delete photographs of their children published on the network. In countries like France, there are penalties ranging from 45,000 euros in fine to 12 months in prison for the publication of images or intimate details of the children’s lives.
However, in Spain, the decision to publish images of our children in a social network belongs to the sphere of parental authority, that is, the publication is presupposed by the consent of the legal representatives of the minors or the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
How to protect the privacy of our children
Therefore, the best way to protect the privacy and identity of our children is not to expose them on social networks , while teaching them to use them responsibly. But, if despite everything we decide to share your images on the Internet, these are the advice offered by the experts of Qustodio, a digital security and well-being platform for families, to preserve your privacy as much as possible:
- Do not give personal data in the publications , as well as pixelate the face of the same and always come out dressed.
- Maintain open communication with our children and reach a consensus with them before publishing or sending information. This way we will avoid problems and insecurities.
- Check the privacy of the social networks in which you have activity, in order to know if the publications are visible to the whole public or simply to family and friends. Ideally, you should limit access and opt for a private profile in these cases.
- Never give location and geolocation data , such as the school where you study, the address or the place of vacation
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In Babies and More | 81% of babies under six months are on social networks: 10 reasons for not sharing their images, A grandmother is sentenced to delete photos of her grandchildren on social networks for violating the data protection law
