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 teach teenagers and we debated this topic. All of them were so embarrassed by the toddler photos posted by their parents on fb 10 years ago. Sone were furious.

Enlighten me then, ole wise OP...

Frankly, none of your business OP. So, YABVU. Didn't we dunk people expressing such nasty thoughts into the river in more enlightened times?

Yeah blink, and teens are normally so understanding about things their parents have done. Teenagers are embarrassed by their parents just existing.

Flippin'eck OP - sounds like someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning

Well I don't know exactly Tumbleted, which is sort of the point.

See Wings's comment above.

I think the fact you don't see it as an issue right now does not negate the fact that years down the line your child may not want to have pictures of themselves on the internet. Pressing delete does not totally erase the photo from existence on the internet and you never know who has a copy of this photo.

While I think that the OP is dramatic in how they have portrayed themselves, they have a valid point that the child never wanted this 'cute' photo to be online forever.

@Harumphy

As you feel so strongly about this, and also started the thread, why can't you answer my question?

What awful thing do you think is going to happen to us all?

Ok op. Lets ban photos on social media. Also, photos in the paper, photos in photographic studios, passport photos, using kids in advertising, on stage and on screen, taking them anywhere with CCTV. All invasions of their privacy.

Totally agree OP.

Apart from the privacy aspect, posting pictures of your children is beyond tacky

I agree with you @Harumphy

Not only is it embarrassing for the kid, it’s sooooooo boring for everyone else.

Who needs to know?

Who’s approval are the parents seeking? Why do they think we want to know these private details of their family life?

It’s very strange, and highlights a lack of something in the parent I think.
They’re seeking approval (likes) from external sources, and using other people by association to gain it.

It’s like some sort of embarrassing identity crisis, writ large.

So much energy looking for approval from outside themselves.
I think people who post like this have crushingly low self esteem, and feel sorry for them actually.

I wonder were they held enough when they were babies, and told they were loved just for who they are when they were little kids. 😢 I think not.

I kind of agree with you. My children are teenagers and refuse to let me post any pictures of them.
As for nude pictures of toddlers, a relative died recently and among their things were some totally innocent nude photos of their now adult children as toddlers the subject of the photos was mortified that these had been seen by other relatives imagine being an adult and loads of your parents friends have seen you nude on line.
There are also these surveys that go around what time was your child born, what was your first pet called, where did you go to school... All these things are used as bank security questions but people answer them.

So it's ok to embarrass teenagers because they're teenagers? Stereotyping. The young people I teach have valid opinions and voiced them better than I can here.
I especially hate the sharing of scan photos. Is nothing personal any more? No privacy from before birth!

I don't suppose my aunt who would now have been 106 would have been enamoured of the picture of her aged nine months naked on a sheepskin rug. It makes me grin every time I look at it, I bet my gran would have put it on FB had it existed.

Personally I found it much more of an invasion of privacy when MIL had DC posing for a photo shoot when they were quite young with a local Labour candidate for Parliament and they ended up on the flipping leaflet going through everyone’s front door! They are 15 and 12 now and neither has shown the slightest concern about my photos of them on fb.

I think people who post like this have crushingly low self esteem, and feel sorry for them actually. I wonder were they held enough when they were babies, and told they were loved just for who they are when they were little kids Please tell me this is a joke? 😂

Seems like you really can’t answer my question can you.

You’re telling people they deserved to be sued by their children for sharing innocent photos of them for a reason that you can not state may or may not happen.

Don’t get dizzy up there on your pedestal.

I'm not saying its ok to embarass teenagers deliberately but its fair to say that a lot of them go around in perpetual states of embarrassment no matter what their loving parents do.

This thread is brilliant.

None of us KNOW what the future repercussions may be on many levels. That's the point. It seems to me wiser to err on the side of caution. Anything else is a gamble

You could say that about literally anything. Never embrace any change or technology, do nothing interesting or new, ever, because you don't know exactly what the end result will be. Life is a gamble.

FB has been around, as a widespread platform for over 12 years. Surely by now hordes of young adults are suing for invasion of privacy? Can you point to this wave of problems people have stated?

Blink - the point is that teenagers hate a lot of things, it doesn't mean that we should make the world in line with their (temporary) views. They will be sharing pics of their kids on FB in a few years :)

I put pics on FB to keep in touch with my friends and family far and wide. And I love seeing their pics too. All within reason.

Ok, fair enough. But I really don't think they will be sharing baby pics. They grew up in a different world. It'll be interesting to see as some have never had privacy. Do they now value it more or less?

I had a few photos of my DC climbing a tree, having fun in the garden, that sort of thing. Years later, newly at secondary school my DC's friends looked through my facebook and teased my embarrassed DC for the various (childish, obvs) dungarees, haircuts etc on view. I took the pictures down.
Recently a friend of mine came on facebook for advice on potty training and posted a photo of her DC on the potty. I messaged her to say, think about your kid when they're 14, these photos will still be available!

They won't though, be available, unless you want them to be.

I just find it a strange idea that anyone has some untouchable right not to be embarrassed, or seen, or offended. They don't.

I suppose it's possible that my daughter might one day see a past baby picture of herself on the internet. She might even look cute in it. So what? That photo might even be potentially visible to the entire population of the world (all of whom have been babies themselves and 99.9% of whom will not ever see that picture of my dd or have any interest in doing so). So what? How on earth is 'having been a baby' embarrassing?!