To hope that all parents who put photos of their children on FB/Insta/Twitter end up getting sued . . .

[Harumphy]

. . . by their grown-up children for breach of privacy.

Children have absolutely no say or control over what is shared by their parents, or with whom it is shared.

My family member has posted, on her public Instagram feed, her son's full name, date of birth, and every waking moment. Now that information will be out there for anyone to consume. At best, this could erode the boy's sense of self-esteem, security, and privacy. At worst, the data can be used to commit identity fraud or give a stranger the information they need to socially engineer access to him.

And I don't care if you say that you get consent before you post anything, because children don't have full knowledge of the context of their decision. They are not cognisant of the whole range of risks.

I also don't care if you say your FB/Insta/Twitter is private. Social networking sites are porous. Facebook in particular is never private, and the data you share will never be expunged.

I think it's not your place, and it's not your right.

I think it is the children of family bloggers who make their livelihoods from sharing every detail of their family lives with the internet who are most likely to see a massive backlash from their children, not average social media users

Speaking as someone who barely uses social media i think its a storm in a tea cup.
There are other huge problems with social media but this is not one of them. I have no problem with my dh posting pics of the kids.

I must admit, I have always held off from posting many pics of my DDs on social media & one of my teens now asks me not to, so I don't. As my girls are older, I ask their permission, of course. When they were teeny, as I say, I was cautious.

I am uncomfortable with people that plaster intimate family moments all over FB, I do think it is a breach of your children's privacy and they may resent it later. Is is so hard to just email/message them to a close few? I see pictures of the children of people I have the most tenuous connection to. Save them for grandparents and close friends/relatives.

I suspect that in another 5 years with babies born at the start of the social media era hitting their teens that cases of teenagers taking action against their parents will become a thing

There are plenty of now adults who were young children in the SM age, and its not happening, so why would it in 5 years?

But you clearly do care slash

@kinghenry your are just being pissy about my point of view.....FFS!

Sorry.

Although I don't think you made your point well. Clearly you are not a person who would post pics of some of the scenarios I described, and I think, suing the parents aside, you would probably broadly agree with the OP. However there are parents out there, my brothers ex girlfriend is such a one, who posts pics of every. single. milestone. their child achieves, regardless of how inappropriate it is. Being proud doesn't give them carte blanche to do this.

But yes, sorry for being pissy and sorry if you felt being got at.

That was to GoldenMcOldie

OP you are saying that there should be no pictures of children anywhere ever: no kids in the news, in films, in ads, in local papers, or online under any circumstances, even with their consent, because young kids are not able to give consent.

What is the age of consent for photos?

Isn’t there a huge difference between putting the odd cute picture of your kid on social media than documenting their entire existence? I have a few on mine, they’re not embarrassing (and no, not even when they’re older could my children think they are embarrassing - aside from the fact they’re posted by me!). I also have my social media set to private so strangers don’t see them. I know they could be leaked but as I said, they’re innocuous pictures of smiles in the park for example.

Ridiculous hyperbole from you OP YABU.

I have seen people post photos of school reports

Not bothered by Facebook but can’t stand people who exploit their children on YouTube.

It’s the reasons behind the oversharing that I wonder about. Pre social media no one shared every detail of family life with a wide number of people like work colleagues, distant cousins,old school friends and school mums. Why do people feel the need to do this? Is it about validation?

I actually don't post as many pics as my dad wants me too. She thinks it'll be hilarious if I take a picture of her bum and post it on Facebook for everyone to see.

She gets quite upset when I refuse.

So do you hope she sues me for emotional abuse too?

Dd not dad!! Though she'd probably find grandads bum even more hilarious

Pre social media no one shared every detail of family life with a wide number of people like work colleagues, distant cousins,old school friends and school mums. Why do people feel the need to do this? Is it about validation

Didn't they though? Some people are oversharers. Long before social media we all knew people who would tell you literally everything that was happening in their lives if you were unlucky enough to be cornered by them or have to sit next to them. Plenty of them about. At least with social media its your choice as to who you follow and what you see.

Children abroad have already sued their parents. Italy and Austria mentioned in this article and social services told us of a case in Japan. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/facebook-fines-woman-son-photos-post-social-media-court-italy-rome-a8155361.html

I think it will increase in over the next 5 years because 10 years ago Facebook was still mainly students throwing sheep at each other and Instagram wasn't a thing. Numerous tedious posts about little Johnny getting his 5 metre swimming badge and time hop posts of a post 2 years ago of little Johnny getting his 5 metre swimming badge came later.

The italian teen won on copyright law, not privacy, and would not have had a case in the UK. The austrian teen story turned out to be fake news, and I can't find anything for a case in Japan. So hardly a deluge, considering there are millions of 18+ age people who had their childhood pics all over social media?

Which dear should fuck off exactly?

kingshenryscodpiece I’m in a grrrh sort of mood today so you’re probably right otherwise I wouldn’t of posted!
Love the name btw.

To the op though, common sense when posting a photo on any social media platform is important but to lump every parent who decides to post the odd photo with someone who posts every aspect is ridiculous.

@DougFargo I really don’t think people shared nearly as much as they do now and not in the same way. Things might be mentioned in conversation if someone asked after the DC but not everything was photographed or documented to be revisited again and again. People did not photograph their sick child or sleeping child and take photos to show at work - if you did this regularly they would think your were a bit daft. I recall having to sit through many peoples holiday or wedding albums but that was it.

It was also considered impolite to constantly boast whereas now it’s a big boasting competition. It’s all very look at me and attention seeking with no thought about how sharing all this this will play out in future.

Hilarious. I was once rabidly attacked for having family photos of my teenage children up on my Instagram feed. Apparently I was exposing them to all sorts of dangers and nefarious influences and was a shockingly neglectful parent who cared nothing for their personal safety.

Righty O then you crazed loon

Both my children have been teased at school for old photos and you tube videos that I had made years ago (and had forgotten they were even online) they weren't even "bad" videos they were cute and funny IMO. Other children did online searches on separate occasions and found these. Both boys were/are very angry and embarrassed and I felt terrible, they were just too cute not to share
I never post photos/videos of them now. Every time I take a photo my youngest son reminds me not to post it on social media. My Instagram account (I have deleted Facebook and it feels bloody great!!) looks like I have no children just lots of cats
My children aged 14 and 10 don't use any social media themselves (their choice) just WhatsApp and snapchat. Neither of them want old (embarrassing) photos dredged up when they get older and I totally respect that.

And really is it so evil to sometimes want to be a bit showy offy about the good things in your life? It's the same old FB argument of people bitterly moaning at others photos of parties and picnics with their friends being 'bragging' and showing off. So what? Lots of people have a good life and enjoy good times and like to take photos of it. Get over it. I never begrudge other people's FB photos of their nice holidays or nice homes most likely because I also have nice holidays and live in a nice house.

I can understand that if you're in an unhappy life then it would be upsetting to look at other people's happy memories, but it's really your fucking problem not theirs.

I'm proud of my children and (most of) what they do. Therefore I share photos on social media. My account is private and I personally know all of my contacts. My kids will only know what I've posted about them if I choose to accept friend requests etc. from them in the future.

So glad I have a job and don't have time to worry about such nonsense...

Yes, I tend to agree with you. Trouble is, when you post all info is out there for anyone to see and personally, I don't post photos of my kids or anyone else on them because you could be indirectly putting them in danger.