By Jan de Lange

Over the last 15 years social media has grown into an immensely powerful component of daily life. We use it to share details of our lives ranging from frivolities to political perspectives and intense outpourings of emotions. It’s become a battleground for national elections and a place where internet trolls insult and occasionally even threaten others. So, while many parents are eager to share photos of their children and their milestones, it comes as no surprise that the dark side of social media raises some very serious questions about whether this is a good idea.

This desire to document and share the journeys of our children does go back further than the rise of the internet. For about as long as we’ve had cameras, we’ve been photographing those defining moments and putting them into albums, sending them to relatives and friends and, in the 21st century, sharing them online. The allure of inviting others to join in on your appreciation of the experience and the accompanying social validation is not entirely negative.

So, what do we do? Do we keep our children off the internet and far away from any possibility of contact with its darkest corners? Or do we acknowledge that while the internet is definitely no utopia, the joy of sharing outweighs the possible threat of nefarious strangers far away from us gaining access to our memories?

The downside

Some of the most concerning issues are around images being used in ways you never intended, and the privacy of your kids. Social media giants are extremely secretive about how they put user information to work for advertising. The result is that you and your children’s photos could be used to send more targeted advertising in your direction, or that companies could use these images as part of their own marketing strategies. The other issue is that the more you share, the bigger and more defined your child’s digital footprint becomes. Creating this digital footprint for your child is often just an afterthought. The problem is that as they grow, so does it. This could cause problems down the line, if content they might later on not want on the internet for whatever reason was initially posted innocently but later becomes unwanted.

It’s not all bad

This doesn’t mean you have to completely stop posting, but it does mean that it’s worth considering whether a post is appropriate (and will stay so for the foreseeable future) before sharing it. For example, any photos of your children in any state of undress are probably best not shared. They could attract the attention of predators, or later on simply be embarrassing for your child. In either case, it’s best to be extremely discerning over who you share things like baby or toddler bath-time photos with. Hand in hand with this, is also not sharing any details that could help identify your kids or their location. It’s also best to steer clear of posting anything that could cause embarrassment later. Consider whether you’d be comfortable sharing something widely offline. Avoid posting anything you wouldn’t be comfortable saying loudly in a busy restaurant.

One of the big difficulties around social media is that its rules are constantly changing. Social media legislation in still very much in a developmental phase, and the first generations to have grown up in the age of social media have only recently joined puberty and adulthood.