Sharenting is an increasingly common practice among parents, and consists of post photos, videos or any other information about your children on social networks. From the first ultrasounds, to its first steps, birthday parties, vacations, first teeth, school festivals ... Any event or important fact in a child's life is likely to be shared on the Internet by some parents.
But this overexposure, which in most cases occurs without explicit permission from the child, can lead to dangers such as cyberbullying, grooming, phishing, data theft or other internet related crimes.
A fingerprint built without permission
According to statistics, by the age of six months 81% of babies already have an Internet presence, and in its first five years of life there will be 1,000 photographs of him circulating on the web. In addition, 5% of children under two years of age have a social media profile created by their parents, a figure that increases as they get older.
In most occasions parents do not ask their children for permission to share audiovisual material or information about them, and lately we have seen how this has led some teenagers to denounce their parents for considering that the information and photos published during their childhood have ruined their life and reputation.
Not in vain, according to the University of Michigan, 56% of parents hang potentially shameful pictures of their children, which can affect them during their adolescence or even in their adult stage, interfering in their social and working life.
And we are not aware that all the material of our children that we are uploading to the Internet is forming their fingerprint, which will remain in the cloud forever.
This will lead to the fact that when someone searches on the Internet with the name of our child, now or within 20 years, what we have been building will appear; that is his digital reputation.
This is something extremely important, and although at first the parents may seem like a banal issue, for our son it might not be in the future and consider that We have violated your right to privacy or have harmed your honor in any way.
The dangers of sharenting
But the fingerprint of our children built without their permission is just one of the many consequences of sharenting, a practice that although parents do without any evil, it can involve serious risks for the child, experts explain.
- Certain photographs or published information may affect the child's reputation, hurting you in your social environment or at school. Maybe parents do not realize when we publish on our social networks private data of our children, such as health problems, tastes, academic circumstances, behavioral problems ...
But all this can lead you to suffer from cyberbullying or bullying, in addition to blackmail or threats. We must not forget that the photographs or information that we upload to the Internet can be reproduced indefinitely in a very short time, and end up in dangerous hands or exposed in inappropriate places.
- On the other hand, it is extremely important to remember that pedophiles obtain photographs and information of children through social networks. The data that we publish serves to know more about the child, his tastes, birthday, school where he studies, images of his daily life ... causing a serious situation of vulnerability in the child.
All this information is used by pedophiles to contact children and gain their trust, which is known as grooming or pedophile cybergangaño.
Tips for posting pictures of our children
Aware of the doubts and concerns raised by the use of ICT, the space # PorUnUsoLoveDeLaTecnología, offers parents information, videos and tips to make proper and responsible use of technologies.
And in regards to sharenting, it also offers us a series of recommendations to follow if we decide to publish information or photographs of our children on the Internet:
Become familiar with the privacy policies of social networks in which we will publish information.
Activate notifications that alert when our child's name has been Google search object.
Share information anonymously and not show their faces. In this sense, lawyer María Sánchez also told us in an interview the importance of protecting children's identity by not providing their names, locations, school where they study or any other personal data.
Likewise, we must know that publishing on social networks the image of children other than our children without the consent of their parents, is absolutely prohibited, since we will be violating your right to privacy.
Always consult children before publishing any photo or information about them, and respecting their opinion and decision if they ask us not to publish about their lives on social networks.
Never publish photographs in which the child appears naked, not even of a newborn or baby.
Think about him effect that shared can have, and how it can affect our children's self-esteem.
And if we have already shared photographs or information of our children in our social profiles, it is advised check the privacy of our publications, taking into account that on Facebook the cover image and profile are public. Likewise, we must not neglect our WhatsApp profile picture.
We leave this video that is part of the # Porunusolovedelatecnología campaign, and that comes to summarize what we have explained in the post. Before posting information or photos of your children on the Internet, think twice. Protect you
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In Babies and More Don't be a star: a video about the privacy of minors on the internet that your children have to see, Thousands of adults pretend to be children to harass others: the viral video about grooming that your children have to see, 1000 photographs of our children circulate on the internet (and without control) before they turn five, Children and Instagram: rules of use to protect your children, can my child denounce me for uploading photographs of him to social networks ?, If you live In France, your child can report you for posting photos of him on social networks
