Know the risks of sharing images of your children in the network
We all love to be able to share with our loved ones and friends the special moments of our children's lives. And, in many occasions, we resort to the photos in social networks and to the web to do it. But this can entail risks for the safety and well-being of children.
According to the survey The Age of Consent, carried out by McAfee in the United States, 30% of parents publish a photo or video of their children at least once a day on social networks. This often involves sharing personal and private information of children, such as an image wearing the school uniform in these days of return to school.
However, parents do not ignore the risks of sharing photographs of our children on social networks. Nearly three out of four parents know that photos uploaded to online platforms can end up in unwanted hands. Also, most know the different types of dangers that can arise from publishing images on the web, such as pedophilia, harassment and cyberbullying.
Despite the risks, most parents insist on capturing and publishing the most important moments of their children's lives without their consent, and this can lead to other problems of a more emotional nature.
Social networks and emotional well-being
Parents tend to worry more about the physical and security risks involved in social networks, but on many occasions, we forget that sharing images without the consent of our children can cause emotional problems. In fact, the 58% of parents respondents believe they are in the right to publish images without consent of his son.
Anxiety, worry and shame are some of the consequences in our children of the publication of photographs on the web. This occurs especially in stages such as adolescence, in which young people are more aware of the image they reflect and give more importance to social acceptance. Currently, much of this acceptance is achieved through social networks, which adolescents give too much importance.
As parents, we must serve as an example when giving fair importance to social networks and that means knowing how to select the appropriate moments to share images of our children. In addition, it is important to ask children and adolescents if they agree to publish a photograph in an online platform.
Tips for sharing images safely
For those occasions when you decide that publishing a photo on social networks is worth it, we give you three tips to share images safely.
1. Beware of geolocation. Most social networks add the user's location when publishing an image on online platforms. It is important that parents deactivate this function to avoid disclosing the location of your children, especially when sharing images away from home.
2. Configure privacy. You should only publish photographs on social networks that have a private audience. For this it is necessary to configure platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, which allow sharing information only with those users who are confirmed contacts. However, we must not forget that everything that is published in these networks is considered public information.
3. Establish rules with family and friends. It is necessary to define clear guidelines for the publication of images of minors. This will prevent unwanted situations in which a friend or family member publishes a picture without the consent of the child's parents. It is recommended that these rules be followed by the parents themselves to protect children from images that may cause anxiety or that may give way to cyberbullying or other risks.
Isabel López Vásquez
Advice: McAfee
