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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people should stop taking photos

139 replies

Lexijayde44 · 21/04/2020 08:10

I'm not saying there are not some idiots hanging about in groups being stupid. By all means they deserve the police dining them etc etc. What I'm not comfortable with is locals taking pictures of other locals and putting them on Facebook page to tell the other locals what they are doing.

New rules do say you can sit on a bench for a quick rest. Theres no crime eating something whilst outdoors etc.

A family two parents and three kids were sat on a picnic table. nowhere near anyone. The kids were eating crisps. Someone photographed them. Put them on Facebook. They are now getting called all the names!

Firstly are we allowed to take pictures of other peoples kids now? I find it weird and inappropriate.

Secondly is it ok to throw People to the lions on Facebook?

Thirdly who are we to judge without facts? There is no crime in a five minute stop on a long walk. You can have a snack on you. How does anyone know the ins and outs of a person's health? I take snacks out with me because when my blood sugar levels drop I feel awful pretty quickly. I'm anemic and my energy is really poor.

I've seen people taking photos of so many different things in this crises. If you would t like someone taking pictures of your family and especially your children I would like to think you wouldnt do it to someone else!

OP posts:
Umnoway · 21/04/2020 08:56

1984 isn’t an instruction manual.

missyB1 · 21/04/2020 09:05

People are bored. Preaching/ snitching/ naming and shaming are their new hobbies. I wish they’d bloody learn to read a book instead.

CatteStreet · 21/04/2020 09:07

'Crisps are well known for their cunning packaging which allows them to be eaten on the go.'

I've heard it all now.
Almost more than about the virus, I am increasingly worried about WTF has happened to us when a statement like this can be posted apparently without a trace of irony.

There's a great post on a currently running thread about Germany's death rate where the poster explains that there is none (or very little, obv there are a few obsessives everywhere) of this policing of shopping and people's movements there. That people are taking it seriously but are relaxed especially about what other people are doing. It's my observation too. The frenzied policing I see and hear of on here is almost entirely absent in a country that is managing relatively well. Which implies that, as an anti-virus tactic, it's not particularly useful. Likely the only effect it is having is driving up a lot of people's blood pressure. Thus confounding the risk to the NHS.

ravenmum · 21/04/2020 09:08

Here in Germany you would theoretically have to get permission from anyone you photograph before posting a picture of them.
Someone recently posted a "shaming" photo in a group I'm in. I said that I agreed with what he was saying, but that he wasn't allowed to post pictures of strangers, and he "liked" my post and deleted the picture.

No such law in the UK, though, afaik.

WanderingMilly · 21/04/2020 09:08

No to photographs and this nonsense about shaming people on Facebook...yet another reason why I don't have Facebook.

However, go for exercise and then GO HOME. Don't sit out eating crisps, it isn't a party or a picnic. Your kids could survive a walk without the crisps until home (or without them completely would be better). Any extra time you are out increases risk. And how do you know whether you aren't leaving virus germs on the seat? You don't.
I wish people wouldn't all act as though they are the exception to common sense.....

TheStuffedPenguin · 21/04/2020 09:09

People get pissed off when they are following the rules and they see others who are not . It's that simple .

Iwalkinmyclothing · 21/04/2020 09:10

YANBU. I am really alarmed by some people's behaviour during this crisis, and it's not the rule breakers I am talking about here.

Strugglingtodomybest · 21/04/2020 09:10

I couldn't agree with you more OP. It's scary how fast some people have taken to policing each other, without, as you say, the facts.

Igotthemheavyboobs · 21/04/2020 09:12

Of other people, yes agree 100%

But please please take as many pictures of the weird queue systems and empty streets/locked park signs etc. I have started is a bit of a hobby on my daily walk. It's going to be really odd to look back on!

malificent7 · 21/04/2020 09:17

Yanbu

malificent7 · 21/04/2020 09:21

These twats will be the first people to moan when the economy tanks due to our unnecessary purchases.

malificent7 · 21/04/2020 09:21

Lack of ...

SpillTheTea · 21/04/2020 09:22

They're weirdos if they're putting up photos of strangers on fb. They need to get a life.

curlymom · 21/04/2020 09:23

YANBU. Yes some people are not strictly following the rules. But you aren’t the police! Walk by go home and mind your business. This was going to happen wit the stay home but go out if needs be rules. If it’s not working it needs to be reviewed.

islandofdoom · 21/04/2020 09:27

I read something saying in Scotland we are allowed to stop for something to eat if out for a walk.

LaLaLandIsNoFun · 21/04/2020 09:43

I do wonder if these jobsworths may find themselves on the wrong side of the law should anyone decide to act on the info being posted online.

Brefugee · 21/04/2020 09:49

People get pissed off when they are following the rules and they see others who are not . It's that simple

It is astounding (I'm another one in Germany, thank goodness) how often I have had to hear rubbish like "all Germans were Nazis, we wouldn't have done that shit" and "all East Germans were STASI informers, we Stiff Upper British Lip types would never have been like that"

NAZI and STASI Germany took a few years to kick in. And there were very good reasons related to your families being killed if you didn't join in.

It took less than 2 weeks of lockdown in the UK for the snitching and sniping and downright surveillance of people by neighbours kicked in. I am NEVER allowing anyone to get away with smearing Germans like that again. It is astounding what has happened in the UK.

Yes, it is a pain keeping to the rules. Just keep doing what you're doing or call the police. The uploading of photos is appalling.

Original poster
Lexijayde44 · 21/04/2020 09:49

Exactly. People moaning about non essentials too. What happens if nobody buys household items and garden items, toys and clothes for weeks and weeks on end? Companies struggle. I ordered my kids trainers and t shirts from next yesterday. They have old summer bits from last year but the youngest needed some slightly bigger. I see it as I supported a business that I hope survives this as that's where I purchase 80% of my kids clothing.

Crisps are perfectly acceptable to eat as a snack out. Considering most things you'd eat out and about would be in some sort of wrapper. If parents have walked the kids a mile and let them enjoy a snack outside before walking back then I'm sorry I don't see the issue. I personally would not sit on benches. My kids havn't stopped anywhere. But my kid are a pear last week and some pombears yesterday on a walk. It makes her happy to take a snack for a walk. No she wont starve but hey ho. It's not Harming anyone else her enjoying her childhood.

I guess there isn't a law. But if some pervert was taking pictures in the park in the summer there would be outrage!

OP posts:
NoMorePoliticsPlease · 21/04/2020 09:52

In Italy it is illegal to post photos of any children on social media without the childs consent. A precedent has been set by a 16 yr old bringing a case against his parents, think on , Facebook photos become someone elses

1forsorrow · 21/04/2020 09:53

Some people must have really miserable lives if their idea of a picnic is a bag of crisps. Sad really.

JustTurtlesAllTheWayDown · 21/04/2020 10:00

I agree. It's never okay to name and shame and photograph people on social media, especially children.
These things can go viral extremely easily and result in the person getting real life abuse.
There have been a number of 'calling out' videos in recent years where the person being called out was vulnerable, suffering from mental health issues or was goaded into it, and then suffered a torrent of abuse and mockery.
Taking photos or videos of total strangers so you can try shame them online is an incredibly nasty and self-righteous thing to do.

Springersrock · 21/04/2020 10:06

YANBU. Although, I have seen the tide turning a bit recently on these shaming posts

My 14 year old daughter had a shaming video posted of her on one of our community Facebook groups. She was not breaking any rules other than ones the poster had made up, and was on private property anyway

The group admin removed it, but to be fair, the replies were mostly calling out the weirdo for posting it and pointing out she was doing nothing wrong. There were a few name calling/should be fined/arrest her/arrest the parents replies but if it had been posted a few weeks ago I reckon it would have been a pile on

WorraLiberty · 21/04/2020 10:12

YANBU

Although I'm not sure I'd want my kids touching a public picnic table and then putting crisps in their mouths.

nannyedd · 21/04/2020 10:12

The National Police Chief's Council has published guidance for police forces, entitled 'What constitutes a reasonable excuse to leave the place where you live', this gives some helpful insight.

www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf

For the record, whilst the consensus is that photographs in a public place are legal, I wholeheartedly disapprove of anyone taking photographs of children that do not belong to them! There is surely come case law on this somewhere.

New here. First Post. Nanny. Please be kind!

LouisaMusgrove · 21/04/2020 10:12

If I had small children and had to stay at home with them day after day with no end in sight, they and I would be at our wits end. I believe in complying with the law, but as part of taking care of my family's mental and physical health, I would operate within the law by taking children out to the nearest open space for vigorous play and exercise. If my children were very small the walk and exercise would make them hungry and thirst. We would refresh ourselves with a small snack before returning home. (I could of course take them on a grim route march as an alternative. 'No playing. No crisps', but I am not sure this would do a lot to alleviate the anxiety, and they'd probably not want to leave their iPads for a repeat.)