Many parents use social media as a way to stay connected with relatives and friends. Posting stories, photos, and videos of their kids on social media as an easy way to share milestones with everyone at once. Social media can also be useful for getting advice and feeling less alone in motherhood, but there are some downfalls.
Many parents have not considered the risks of posting their kids pictures and information publicly online. Online safety isn’t a new topic, but it is one that is currently trending, so let’s discuss it.
Once you post it online, it’s always there…
Nothing that you post online is completely private, and once you post it, it is always there. Even with privacy settings. Once you post something you completely loose control over who has access to it.
Kids deserve privacy and ultimately their childhood is theirs to share. In this digital age we can google and find out almost anything about anybody. Do you think your kids would want people to know the information you are sharing about them in 10, or 20 years? When they are applying to colleges, jobs and just existing in this digital world.
Besides the fact that kids deserve privacy, and the right to control their digital footprint, there are potential risks that you might have not considered.
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Two huge risks are identity theft and online predators. Identity theft? What? Let me explain..
Identify Theft
Your child’s name, age and birth date are three key pieces of information that can be used for fraud in the future. Identity thieves can scroll social media platforms for posts that give them easy access to this type of information.
This article “Staying Public in Private” points out that we shouldn’t share photos “of subjects’ names, age, gender, other biographical information such as education, employment and hometown, contacts including how to reach them, status updates (what we’re doing now and location), interests, likes and dislikes,” and this should be the same for our kids.
A lot of sensitive information that is being shared online is the same information your child will use for security questions when they are older. For example, high school mascot, first pet, mother’s maiden name and the street they grew up on. By scrolling parents’ social media platforms many of this information can be obtained.
Ask yourself these questions, Why am I sharing this information? What is the significance? Is it necessary, especially when it could pose a security risk later?
With new advances in AI technology, it is easier than ever for the common person to create fake photos from the photos that are posted online. These photos and information together make kids easy targets for identify theft.
Online Predators
As a motherhood blogger this is something that I take very serious.
Images and information of and about your children online can be viewed, saved and used by anyone, and that obviously is concerning.
This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t post your children, but you should be very selective about the information and photos you share. It is unfortunate but this is very real problem, and with the development of technology it is only getting worse.
I have plenty more to say about online safety, so stay tuned.
xo