Five reasons not to share your children’s ‘back-to-school’ picture on social media

What are children learning from adults obsessed with seeking external validation instead of cultivating self-worth?

I am worried about a digital age where children are afforded little privacy (Getty)

Social media has been awash with ‘back-to-school’ photographs for the past week. It’s become a modern-day tradition – from images of newborns in the delivery room to teenagers celebrating exam results, we are chronicling children’s lives online.

I have enjoyed seeing friends’ images of their offspring ready for the start of a new school year. I’ve cooed at toddlers starting nursery, five year olds clutching book bags, and adolescents swamped by new school blazers.

In the past I have shared similar images, but increasingly I am worried about a digital age where children are afforded little privacy.

Social media contacts are rarely limited to close family and friends, and once something is online it is no longer private. High-profile data breaches and website hacks serve as a reminder that anything online is potentially vulnerable. The wider issue is not simply should we share back-to-school images but what, if anything, should we divulge about children?

Here are five reasons to share less about our children:

Consent

Children cannot be expected to grasp the implications of their images or personal details being made available online. We must question whether this is in a child’s long-term interests. Most of us will seek consent from friends and colleagues before sharing something on social media, yet we disregard the rights of children by removing choice and failing to protect their privacy.

Vulnerability

Young daughters of both Beyoncé and EastEnders' actress Jacqueline Jossa came under attack, unkindly being labelled as ‘ugly’, after the celebrities posted images of the girls online. Social media invites opinion, comment and reaction; it begs the question whether we should be exposing children to this level of scrutiny.

Life Lessons

Kerry Katona recently made headlines when she tweeted an image of 15-year-old daughter Molly to her 479,000 followers. Molly’s tweeted response was: ‘I hate this photo delete delete delete.’ Children deserve to be educated about their rights and mutual respect. What are children learning from adults obsessed with seeking external validation instead of cultivating self-worth? Are we in danger of teaching them that we prize popularity, followers and likes over other qualities and values?

Safety

Many of us are poor at taking time to understand or check privacy settings. By sharing information online we may be unwittingly telling people exactly where they can find our children. The more personal details someone can learn about a child from social media, the more vulnerable we make them.

The Future

No one has yet grown up with their entire life documented on social media. The internet is only 25 years old, and we have no idea how information shared today may impact the future. Will a child’s life, chronicled online, become something that hinders them, will it invite judgement, ridicule or cause embarrassment?

The internet has allowed us to connect with people around the world. We have become voyeurs and commentators of other people’s lives, and created a window into our world too. The only way of minimising potential risks to children is to share nothing about them online. It seems unlikely many of us will choose this option. Given that, it’s absolutely essential we think carefully before posting something about our children on social media and ask: is this in my child’s long-term interests, am I considering their right to privacy, could I risk compromising their safety?