In a few years it could get exciting: Everyone has a right to their personal image. Strictly speaking, this means that no one is allowed to publish photos of anyone without their consent. So if a friend posts embarrassing party photos of you, you can sue them if necessary to have the picture deleted.

But what about the sweet baby and child photos on Facebook that parents sometimes post en masse? Should parents expect lawsuits from their children?


clip_image002Image source: Facebook , public status

High fines possible

France has very strong privacy laws. It warns that photos of children on Facebook could result in a fine of up to 45,000 euros and one year in prison. Now there is discussion in other countries about allowing such high penalties to protect children, because at some point these children will grow up and then they don't want to be laughed at by classmates because their parents posted a photo years ago of what they were like as a baby sitting on the pee pot, as the author and child psychologist Catherine Steiner-Adair emphasizes.


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The child as a multimedia project

In 2015, the internet company Nominet an investigation into children's photos on Facebook. According to this, parents in Great Britain post around 200 photos of their children every year. By the time they turn five, an average of 1,000 photos of a child are already circulating on the Internet. Where we used to have a family photo album that we only let close friends look at, we now share photos all over the world that could embarrass a child at some point.

How is the future going to look like?

Social networks are still relatively young, so it's hard to say now how today's children will react to such photos in a few years. Will it be as normal for them as a smartphone is today (unthinkable 20 years ago) that everyone, including the sweet boy/girl from the parallel class, can see embarrassing baby photos? Or will there be a big quarrel between parents and children?

Professor Nicola Whitton from Manchester Metropolitan University is among those who fear the worse:

“I think in a few years our children will want to combat this openness when they realize that their entire lives are visible on social networks from birth.”

Already, according to a study from the University of Michigan , children and young people aged 10-17 are concerned about what parents post in children's photos, while many parents see this as their "right" to be able to post these photos.

Children are people

“Parents need to be clear about what is right for their child,” Whitton said. “Children are people, they are human beings. And they may not be very grateful for their public baby photos in 15 years. It may be hard, but don't post pictures until you can talk to the child and they're old enough to understand what you're doing."

Of course, this doesn't mean that parents have to discuss every photo with their child, explains Professor Sonja Livingston from the London School of Economics, but in principle a child should know and understand when and why parents post a photo of them.

First think, then click

Parents should think even more about who they share what with on Facebook. There is a big difference between sharing a baby photo with 50 friends or 500 unknown random friends. Lt. According to Nominet's study, 17% of parents in the UK have never checked their security settings on Facebook. “You have to keep in mind that the digital world is constantly changing, that images sometimes still appear on the Internet decades later, and that it is impossible to predict where exactly the images you share will end up and how they will be used,” says Livingston.

Put your smartphone away more often

Dear parents,
there is another reason not to post so many photos. Shockingly, sometimes photographing children turns into a sport among parents. In extreme cases, this can lead to children feeling pressured to look as cute as possible for mommy's Snapchat photos while they paint, play in the sand, or do crafts.

Children are not stupid. Children will notice when parents are more interested in the photo than the child. When children play football, they no longer see spectators. Then they see a sea of ​​smartphones, behind them the parents who are staring intently at the display instead of watching the child.

Your children don't want to see your smartphone. They want to see your smile when you watch them. This is more important to a child than any photo on Facebook.

via The Guardian

Article preview: CREATISTA / Shutterstock.com


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Notes:
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