Do you post pic of your children's faces online / judge people who do / don't and why ?

I dont post any pictures of my children, it is their data and they cannot consent.

Yes, I judge those who SM is wall to wall pics/running commentary of their kids lives.

It is for the likes and nothing else in my opionion.

Absolutely agree I have a real problem with people sharing videos across the internet of private incidents in their children’s life for likes and laughs. It’s not the same as just sort of sharing/keeping up with friends and their children. It’s much more like using your children and it’s not alright.

I post on my private account, but only ever appropriate photos eg clothed. A number of my international friends don’t post their children so I think they take it more seriously in their countries - they post but with a heart over the children’s face, or not at all.

it’s up to people what they want to do. Was quite a funny one though as a friend of mine posted a very sanctimonious post when her first was born “this is the ONLY photo of PFB face I will ever post”. Cue her then posting photos weekly of him because “he’s just too cute not to”!

No I don't and personally I think it's wrong to post photos of children who can't give their consent.

I wouldn't judge the occasional birthday photo because I know some people like to do that but I absolutely judge people who plaster their kids all over social media, often with 'funny' anecdotes such as 'the face of a girl who's just hit her brother over the head.' Or where they're basically vlogging their children's life. It's unnecessary, potentially embarrassing for the children and at worst, these images can and are manipulated into sexualised ones.

I mean, why do it? IME although we all think our own children are the most incredible beings to walk the planet, no one else is that interested in them anyway. I'm a big believer in respecting children's privacy to grow up without an online presence

No I don't and

Once a year I do a big photo dump of DD on her birthday (she's now 4) for the family that don't get to see her often and I love the memories each year. However we recently did an internet safety thing at work and I've been really bothered since then, deleted loads of friends that I don't really know or see any more as I can see how easily people can access and misuse images.

My security settings are pretty tight but I don't think it's enough.
If I did it again I wouldn't put any pics up

But loads of people would already have seen it, maybe for years. The damage is done.

I think it’s one thing having a private SM account and posting normal photos of your child. I find that acceptable as it’s sharing with people you trust.

What I do find off, is people who share photos of their children when their account is public and literally anyone can look at their photos. I find that idea awful as you don’t know who could be looking.

I also find it concerning when people post so much of their life online that you could work out where they live, where they work, where their kids go to school as they have their child’s photo on with their school uniform on. It blows my mind when people do that who have public accounts!

DB has a 20 and 19 year old. I have a 17 year old.

So we were all on Facebook in the late 2000s. I posted pics of my baby, DB's two were not. Their mother (very sensible imo) said she didn't want pictures of her kids in such a public sphere.

I cancelled Fb when DD was about three. DD has grown up with SM and expressed to me at about the age of 10 not to post her face on SM (Instagram by then) without her knowing.

Now she has her own IG and can control her image online as best she can. I sent photos of her to my parents and brother by email. I rarely put her photo even on my private IG account.

Her older cousin is an aspiring musical actor so we get the odd IG story from her. But her brother never posts a thing on SM. I think their mum has definitely influenced this.

I don't really use social media any more but I used to use FB, and I posted one hospital picture of DD1 to announce her birth, and haven't mentioned her on there since. Didn't announce DD2's birth on there at all, as I don't really use it (but still have a profile). Never used insta. I use X, but not under my real name and don't post anything personal.

I don't really understand the need to post photos of your dcs or anything else about your life, unless it's relevant to your career/politics etc. But at the same time I quite like lurking and checking other people's post (people that I know), because I'm not very sociable and wouldn't know anything about their lives otherwise.

I wouldn't post any more and would remove any that I had on FB.

Those of you who have said their children are older and are fine about having all their pictures on social media - what would you do if they said they didn’t like it now?

I post pics of DD but never embarrassing ones or unclothed. She's generally the one asking me to post it. FB is locked down to Friends only.

I'll admit that in the early years of FB it didn't occur to me to hide our door number or anything like that but then everyone on my FB knows where we live anyway. I've got better about it in the last decade.

My DS has never allowed photos of his DC on there, so I don't post them, or mention them by name.

I think this is true

I personally don't post any photos of them whatsoever unless it's just the back of a head or something.

But I don't know anyone personally who's as strict as me - I do think people I know might think I'm a bit extreme but there we go.

All this is solved by having no social media. I remember life before this godawful shit was invented.

Sometimes parents need support

Because I like my friends and family to see them

I don't post pictures of my DC but I also don't generally judge people who do because I know it's normal and maybe their kids won't mind.

I do judge if the kids are undressed or crying, or if the parent is complaining about their child on SM. There's no need for that.

I used to, but very rarely post at all now. I also would ask permission before posting once they were able to give it. I do know a lot of people who seem to post way too much personal information and embarrassing photos of their dc, without any thought for how they’ll feel about that in the future, and I don’t know if judge is the right word, but I don’t think it’s a good thing.

Just my 2 pence worth, but it's about limiting images being accessed by the wrong popel.

DH works in tech. Part of his team are responsible for taking down reported content. The volume of photos of children (non-sexual) that are then modified to become sexualised and essentially turned electronically into images of CSA are horrifying. The development of AI is making this even worse and enough photos can be given to AI software. The photos "teach" the software about the subject and then the AI can generate completely fabricated videos, of the child. You can see where it all ends up.

You are right, no-one will be tracking the child down. The child itself isn't harmed and likely will never know. But neither DH nor I could stomach the thought of that happening with our baby.

It is not just paedophiles that do this either. Let's face it they are not likely to know how, although you can easily access the AI software now (feel free to google - 10s of providers will come up!). But criminal gangs that also carry out online phishing scams, hacking, fraud etc dredge photos from SM en masse, process them and then sell on the generated CSA images and videos for money.

I have maybe 40 Facebook friends, all of whom I know personally, and my profile is set so only those people can see it. I post pictures of my kids around fifteen times a year or so, and honestly? I’m not worried about deepfake porn. Somebody could secretly take a picture of my kids out in public and use that for deepfake porn, but I’m not going to quit taking them out in public.

This Deutsche Telecom ad is worth watching.

I don’t share any pictures of my kids on SM. Maybe over-cautious but none of us know what might be possible with technology in future (who would have guessed 20 years ago what can be done now?) Better safe than sorry. Plenty of other ways to share things with your friends (most of whom aren’t that interested anyway 😉)

Not sure that “judge” is the right word but I do find it surprising how much some people share.

Only on FB a couple of times per year where family and close friends are. Had some on insta but removed them before I made the profile public. Yes I judge all those celebs out there eg Stacey Solomon, Izzy Judd etc and all those 'insta' parents who are using their kids as complete cash cows - exploiting them to promote toys, gadgets, clothing ranges etc. Just wrong on so many levels...

Never.

Not worth the risk.