When we were kids, if our parents wanted to share a picture of us with their friends or with family, they had to take the picture, take the time to get the FILM developed (a week), sort through the flubs, and then either run into the friend in person, pull the paper photo out of their wallet & show them –or maybe MAIL a physical letter to the grandparents with a few snapshots tucked in. It was a whole production.
We had family movie nights sometimes when cousins came to visit—where we’d hang a sheet up on one wall and project reel to reel movies or maybe a slide show with a slide projector. No sound except the commentary from people in the room sharing memories. No dramatic or humorous background music.
Some did you know’s:
- More photos were taken in the last 2 years than in the entire history of photography before that.
- People take more photos of themselves than friends & family (93M selfies a day).
- 350M photos uploaded daily on Facebook.
- 95M uploaded daily on Instagram.
- Average person has 2000 photos on their phone (this seems WAYYY low to me. I have 13K+)
Point is: it’s nothing nowadays to snap a picture and post it—on whatever platform (snapchat, IG, etc) in a matter of seconds.
Parents are top of the list for posting pictures. We post Halloween costumes, first day of school photos, birth announcements, achievements, family vacations…. It’s even got a name if you overshare on social media. Some people call it “sharenting.”
What are some things you might want to PAUSE and consider before hashtagging that kid on Santa’s lap?
- Embarrassing Photos? Putting anything online leaves a permanent trail. Consider how the image of your child might be perceived by others. Are you posting about their toddler meltdown? Or their grumpy teenage demeanor in the morning? Could it be seen or used by bullies when they’re in middle school? How would you feel if someone posted something similar about you?
- What Message Are We Sending? When kids grow up seeing photos of themselves online all the time, they see it as normal. Are we teaching them they have no privacy or control over this? We’re supposed to model online safety & literacy—but do we?
- Personal Info: The average parent shares over 1500 photos of their child online before their 5th birthday. Some parents set up IG accounts for their kids before they’re born and definitely before they can talk. All someone needs is a name, DOB, and address & they’re at risk for identity theft or “digital kidnapping,” (someone using the photos & pretending your kids are their own).
We hear more & more celebs who don’t post about their kids although you might see some paparazzi photos of them. Blake Lively & Ryan Reynolds, Kristin Bell & Dax Shepard, Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel… Their reasoning is that it was the parents’ choice to have a public career, and they’re not going to force their children into a spotlight they didn’t sign up for.
- Privacy Settings: did you know every photo you take is geotagged by location? According to the Child Rescue Coalition, 89 percent of parents haven’t checked their privacy settings in over a year. Facebook, Instagram, and other social media apps all have different settings. Without realizing it, you may be sharing your photos with the general public, aka strangers. Also bear in mind that the friends and family you share your photos with may have different privacy settings, which means they could potentially share your photos too.
How to remove location data from iPhone photos
- Select one or more photos in the Photos app.
- Tap the Share button.
- At the top of the window that appears, tap Options.
- Switch off the Location.
- Tap Done and then tap your sharing method.
- Don’t telegraph Locations or Routines It’s surprisingly easy to track people using the information you can get from photos posted online. To protect your kids from potentially being discovered by child predators, Justin Lavelle, a leading expert on online safety and scam prevention and Chief Communications Officer with beenverified.com recommends never posting details about where you live, including your address. “Avoid tagging the locations of places you and/or your children may be at frequently and crop out backgrounds with recognizable landmarks. First day of school? Take a picture at home with them in their new backpack, not in front of the school building with the name clearly visible,” he says. “Do not advertise their routines and wait a few days before posting photos of birthday trips or visits to the park.”
- Be careful about getting too personal about their situations. Did they get cut from a sports team or not get accepted to a school? Are you asking about behavior issues publicly?
- Do you celebrate only outward achievements? This goes back to the “what message are we sending” question. If the only time your child notices you posting about them is when they’re getting a gold star or winning some event, you’re saying something about what’s important in your family.
- Highlighting one child over another consistently. Ouch.
- Favoring one type of activity over another—lots of pictures of daughter’s dance class but seldom post anything about son’s chess matches.
- Filtering how they look!!!! No, no, and no.
- Obsessing over getting the perfect photo to post. What about living in the moment? This makes your child dread events or holidays because it always turns into some lame photo shoot and puts pressure on to look a certain way.
- Making Social Media so important that they only feel like they did a good job (or something worthy) if you post about it. They’re paying attention. Even when they’re little. We’re modeling what we think is worthy.
- For older kids…. Don’t gripe about them or nag them via social media. Taking a picture of the sink full of dishes and complaining that this is how they leave the kitchen.
- CONSENT. Once kids reach upper elementary and definitely middle/high school, you should ask their permission to post any photo of them. This should go both ways—they shouldn’t post snarky/unflattering things about YOU either. Show them the photo and ask first.
- Who’s your audience? Is it just family members or will all your kids’ friends see it? Do you really need to be following your kids’ friends? Or do they need to follow you?