Sharing pictures of our kids with friends and family is one of the most popular uses of social media and has become an everyday way to stay in touch. But it’s worth knowing the facts before posting pictures or letting other people post pictures of your kids.
First, posting photos of your kids creates a digital footprint — a kind of electronic paper trail — that forms their identities in a world they haven’t chosen to enter. Someday your preschoolers will grow up, and they might not want documentation of their diaper days hanging out online for their friends to find!
Second, once you post a photo online, you lose control over it. Someone could easily copy the photo, tag it, save it, or otherwise use it — and you might never know.
Finally, everything you post has information that is valuable to advertisers and data collectors; posting a photo of a kid identifies you as someone who might be interested in baby products, for example.
At the very least, you can minimize the consequences with these precautions: Use privacy settings; limit the audience of a post (only to family, for example); turn off your phone’s GPS; consider using a nickname for your kids; and think about using photo-sharing sites such as Picasa and Flickr that require users to log in to see pictures (unlike on social media, where all your followers can see them).
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Common Sense Media is an independent nonprofit organization offering unbiased ratings and trusted advice to help families make smart media and technology choices. Check out our ratings and recommendations at www.commonsense.org.
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