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.

“All my friends have cute toddler pictures on Facebook of them eating yoghurt or playing in sand or whatever, but I have NOTHING. My friends take the piss out of me for being an alien or my parents being too thick to work the internet or they say I was locked in a box till I was 13. I really wish there were a few photos of us doing fun things together 😢”

Yes that’s overly melodramatic, but you did specify ALL parents...

Give over op

DougFargo that is exactly what I mean. A lack of empathy.

OP, I totally agree with you and have been making this point for some time.
This is the first generation to grow up with potentially having their life catalogued online.
Mine at 14 seriously objects to it and won't let me post anything she is doing.
It makes it difficult as she is a gifted singer and family all over the country and abroad would love to hear her, but she won't let me put anything on fb.
I have to respect this, and our other two aren't so keen as they like to post their own things they are happy about.
It's up to parents what they do, of course but I can see repercussions in the future.

@Harumphy I completely agree with you. This is the reason in I longer use social media and when I did I NEVER put photos of my children online. My sister and SIL however pour pictures of their own children on to FB daily, some very close to the mark IMHO. But I know my kids are safe and now don't worry. My sisters FB account isn't private, the general public can see all her photos and SILs was recently hacked and she can't access it probably by someone who got fed up seeing her crap.

A few dodgy childhood photos put up by loving family members is not the end of the world! The current generation of children are all going to have the same issue with that so I don't think anyone is going to care really.

How does your Mum showing friends a picture of you as a child eating an ice cream damage self esteem? I don't get that.

I may be being hyperbolic in how I'm making it, but my point is very very valid.

My family member has posted a photo of her boy naked today. On her public account. He is under five and of course has no concept of what social media is.

I don't think people are thinking enough before they share.

We just took photo's of ours doing lots of things, then we just showed them to f&f as applicable.
People don't do prints now, but you can still have digital, upload them to a file without letting every Tom Dick and Harry see them.

(biscuit)

And I think it can't be a nice life, growing up with your parents taking so many photos of you all day, every day.

It must be like living in The Truman Show.

lol biscuit fail- but you deserve one

I would not be surprised if her son eventually decides to stop sharing his life with his mum, for fear that he trust her not to take photos/share the details on social media.

'expatinscotland I also put loads of photos of my pet on Instagram. Because he is an animal, and not a person.'

Pets have feelings, too! Sometimes even his baws wind up in photos of him, he's quite well endowed. I wonder if he'll sue me one day. He'd better do it soon, they only live a couple of years.

I get what you're saying. I don't post photos of DD and have occasionally asked other people to remove photos of her if they post them. I just don't feel comfortable with it. I do send photos through Whatsapp though.

Urgh. Whatever.

You seem to have an issue with this member of your family that you are projecting onto anyone and everyone who shares a photo of their child.

In both cases it's actually none of your business.

expatinscotland Sure hen.

I have stopped putting photos of my son up now, when he was a baby and toddler I didn't mind as much, but as he is growing up I am stopping and tend to share photos that he asks me to take and share with family.

I have now replaced that with photos of my cats and am now worried that as they get to 5 I may have to stop that as well

And I think it can't be a nice life, growing up with your parents taking so many photos of you all day, every day.

I know. My poor son. He has such a horrific life.

So do most of his friends actually.

You will, sobey, they need privacy, too.

I put a pixelated patterned bag over my children's heads when we are in public. You can't be too careful.

Who uses a pin on a scarf anyway?

I sometimes wonder about Mumsnetters who over share details about their adult children. I’ve pointed out to posters that who are identifiable in real life that it’s possible their adult children wouldn’t want all their private details being made public.

I think parents should also be careful not to over share medical details about their DC. I always wonder about parents of kids with Aspergers or similar who post about it on social media. Obviously it’s nothing to be embarrassed about but it should be up to the child whether it’s made public knowledge or not.

Drama queen