Baby pics on social media?

[1990fran]

Hi all

Would you or do you post your babies pics on instagram facebook etc? My instagram was used for fashion bits and I uses to receive bits from companies to promote, no I'm not an influencer, I post my cats, my garden etc i now post the occasional photo of an outfit a lot of my content now is gardening bits, my life has changed from having my little boy i love him and want to show him to the world BUT i have seen posts online about digital kidnapping and photos being taken for paedophiles to use, I never gave it a thought until i read an article, turned my stomache i know I would feel so guilty if someone stole his, i had pics of me taken in the past to make a fake facebook so imagine if his pics got stolen to, I think maybe a family pic is ok or a pic not showing his face?! i dont want him to grow older and be like why are there all these pics of me online?! I dont have a facebook only instagram which i have family and work friends on, so thats only way they will see pics of him, although family get pics emailed to them etc, I wanted to know everyone else's thoughts on this, i just didnt want people to think oh shes had a baby but never shows him and think im strange for doing so x

No, I never do. For the reasons you mention. I believe he has a right to decide how much of himself he wants online, and I know baby pictures are stolen from social media and used by pedophiles (even innocent ones). It doesn’t benefit my baby in any way and could harm him, so I don’t do it.

No I never do. I don't use SM anymore, but I've always requested friends and family don't post any pictures of my DC either.

They're entitled to their privacy, and I think they can decide when they're older (with guidance from DH and I) how much they feel comfortable sharing online.

No never post family pics online on social media. In my mind it's an invasion of the child's privacy.

I post pictures few and far between and everything is as private as it can be; yes it could be hacked but so could my iCloud. My Facebook friends are quite a small number of people.
Generally to friends and family I send photos on WhatsApp

I do share the odd picture on Facebook but would never put a picture up with anyone else's child in (e.g. at a birthday party). I'm careful with what I upload and would never put up an in the bath picture or a bare bum picture (the amount of people who do is quite shocking!)

I can understand the argument for not putting up pictures. I also make sure that my privacy settings are high.

I've posted a few but keep it at a minimum. I know people (acquaintances) who post many parts of their kids lives. Most I haven't spoken to irl for years but I know what school their kids go to (from school uniform pics), the area they live in, parks they go to,their kids names, theur kids favourite shows, food, etc. I really don't think they consider how much information they put out about their kids and how vulnerable it could make them.

You can have a seperate private account for showing pics of your child to a select few.

@HumunaHey

I've posted a few but keep it at a minimum. I know people (acquaintances) who post many parts of their kids lives. Most I haven't spoken to irl for years but I know what school their kids go to (from school uniform pics), the area they live in, parks they go to,their kids names, theur kids favourite shows, food, etc. I really don't think they consider how much information they put out about their kids and how vulnerable it could make them.

That's really scary!

I post some photos but my account is private. I think you either need to have your account private or not post any pics.

I do, but not on fb, only on Instagram where I have a totally locked down account with only a handful of close friends and family (I’ve just checked, 16 followers).

@SnappyMcSnapface

No, I never do. For the reasons you mention. I believe he has a right to decide how much of himself he wants online, and I know baby pictures are stolen from social media and used by pedophiles (even innocent ones). It doesn’t benefit my baby in any way and could harm him, so I don’t do it.

50% of images paedophiles steal from peoples social media, i thought they would only be interested in hardly clothed ones but apparently not on this documentary they had all of them.. makes my stomache turn

Yes, I post my children's photos but my social media is locked down to only people I actually know. I wouldn't post them to any sort of public social media (I do have public accounts for work and I've never posted anything about them on there that could identify them).

For me, it's no different than sharing photos with friends and family via email (but a lot less of a faff). You obviously are signing away your rights to photos to a degree when you post to social media, but this isn't really different from sharing through other mediums, like email or WhatsApp. I think it's the price to pay for maintaining communication with friends and family. Otherwise, I'd have to send them prints in the post? Or by carrier pigeon?

Fwiw, I have discovered two convicted paedophiles in my immediate circle of close friends and family. Neither of them ever had access to my social media - in fact, neither of them have social media at all. I refuse to live in fear that another friend or family member who does have social media also happens to be a paedophile, because how do you live like that? These people certainly have pictures of my children, but through the good ole fashioned way of taking group photos of all of us when we spent time together (obviously, before I knew and ended any contact). It's upsetting, but I can't refuse to let them leave the house or have a photo taken by an aunt or a friend's parent because we need to get on with life.

Personally I agree with @mindutopia. Considering the majority of people have cameras on their phones now, how do you know the woman sat on a bench outside Greggs isn’t taking a photo of your child while they’re messing around while you’re in the queue? Or the Grandad in the park ‘scrolling through Facebook’ isn’t actually taking your child’s picture?

@Talkwhilstyouwalk

I do share the odd picture on Facebook but would never put a picture up with anyone else's child in (e.g. at a birthday party). I'm careful with what I upload and would never put up an in the bath picture or a bare bum picture (the amount of people who do is quite shocking!)

I can understand the argument for not putting up pictures. I also make sure that my privacy settings are high.

This!

Are you quite young @1990fran?

I can't imagine anyone of my generation giving this even a fraction of a second's thought. No one I know thinks that if something isn't on social media it doesn't exist which seems to be kind of the way you're thinking

Tbh I find that quite weird, is that how people think? Get on with enjoying your baby rather than worrying about that kind of stuff

No, we decided we wouldn't share any pictures on social media. We don't allow nursery to use her photo on their FB page or for promotional material. We do share pictures on the family WhatsApp group, but our relatives know and respect the fact that we don't want them to be forwarded on.

For me, it's about the issue of consent. My child is not able to give consent for her image to be made available on the internet/shared with others, and in future may be rightly upset that we made that decision for her. It's up to her what she does when she's old enough to create her own accounts.

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

Are you quite young *@1990fran*?

I can't imagine anyone of my generation giving this even a fraction of a second's thought. No one I know thinks that if something isn't on social media it doesn't exist which seems to be kind of the way you're thinking

Tbh I find that quite weird, is that how people think? Get on with enjoying your baby rather than worrying about that kind of stuff

Hmm well I'm 31, most people my age social media is a thing, although I dont live my life through my phone- even my nan is on Facebook now. I get what you're saying if its not online it didnt happen etc, It is good to just asking other peoples views on it that's all

No, you can always email a picture individually, to any particular relative/friend who asks.

I posted about him and pictures etc on Facebook until he was about 2, and then I decided to stop. I just felt like it was going to go on forever and realised I have no idea about hed feel about it in the future.

It's been 1.5 yrs since I posted anything now and I don't miss it. We set up a shared album with my parents and sibling (abroad), when our kids were born, so we just send photos regularly through that instead. It's actually a lovely album, because we choose favourite pictures to send instead of 17 pics taken one day at the zoo for example. I have a highlight reel of him growing up and it's great 😊

I posted quite a lot of baby pictures (as most do) and it's naturally tapering off now as DD gets older. These are some of my thoughts on the topic:

• Half-naked or bathing pics are obviously forbidden and I would not even send those to DH or to a private family chat on the sheer basis that those sort of images have no business being in circulation. The moment you send it to someone, there will be a digital copy made that exists forever and will be duplicated each time someone saves it on their phone, regardless of how innocent the motive is. It's easy to see how any duplication of that sort of content serves no purpose whatsoever. If I took a funny bathing pic of DD I might show it to DH on my own phone.

• I would imagine posting photos on social media is more of a risk with individuals already known to that child rather than total strangers. Just like how most abusers are actually people the family knows. People who know the child (even peripherally) can probably pinpoint their whereabouts, weekend activities, school location, favourite hobbies/foods etc. This is obviously heightened in abusive or complex relationships where the child needs to be protected from certain adults.

• Social media and digital copies of your picture is going to be reality of the world today's children grow up in. So the idea that they will object to their images being online is probably less of an issue than we think. I grew up before internet and the idea of my parents posting some baby pics of me in a hypothetical 1980s world wide web doesn't bother me really. Children grow up and change as well. Your baby pictures aren't "you" in the present day and I don't feel many children/teenagers will be actively offended by that.

• There are many, many parenting "failures" that come before the fact that you put photos of your children on social media. If you do almost everything else right (offering a healthy, loving home, giving them attention and building good confidence etc) then I can't fathom how any child will hold the sole fact that they had some photos uploaded to social media as a reason for anger/argument against you. If that really becomes an issue, it must either be very gratuitous (eg family vlogger style) or a grievance on top of many other parenting issues.

• I find it slightly amusing how so many influencers start off censoring the face of their newborn babies in a self-indulgent "I know I'm so famous but look how I respect the privacy of my child" way. All newborns look like tiny aliens, why on earth would their identity be worth censoring?? And latest by 3-6 months, all those influencers cave in to the extra money and freebies that can be made by showing their child and end up plastering their faces over their account.