Sharing is a practice that many parents engage in. However, it involves dangers for their children of which they are not necessarily aware… How can the sharing of photos and/or videos on social networks threaten the safety of exposed brats?
In an era where social networks have become legion, where life has become a digital staging made up of photo and video publications, the Sharing is a practice that can turn into a real scourge for brats. Born in 2012 from the pen of journalist Steven Leckart*, the term Sharing is actually a contraction of the words “share” And parenting, meaning respectively “sharing” and “parenthood” in French. In view of its name, it is therefore easy to understand what the practice entails: sharing photos and/or videos of their child on social networks.
More and more moms and “sugar daddies” are indulging in it: according to figures from theObservatory of parenthood and digital educationthey are thus close to 53% share photos of their offspring on their various social networks. A practice that can therefore concern even the most “normal” parents, and not only those who are addicted to social media or those who have made it their livelihood (understand, parents influencers). Posting a video or photo of the cherub allows them to connect with loved ones who are far away, to find comfort and support from parents who have the same daily life, etc. But if the practice is intentionally benevolent and wants to be “good child”, the consequences can be dramatic for the young people exposed.
What’s next after this ad
Child crime: the first danger of Sharing
The first danger of sharing photos and/or videos concerns the child crime. Indeed, Sharing unwittingly feeds Dark Web pedophile networks. According to figures put forward by the association The blue child, “50% photos published on child pornography forums are snapshots taken by parents and shared publicly on their social networks.”** A shocking finding, but hardly surprising when you know that it is easy to save, download and collect photos from various social profiles and this, thanks to accessible and free software on the Internet. You don’t need to be a computer engineer or a professional hacker: even an amateur can do it.
Whatever content you post is likely to cause sexual arousal in the child criminals involved. The snapshot has you don’t have to show nudity to be sexualized by them: even the photo that you consider as innocuous as possible can be a real trigger for desire and impulses for them. There is no point in making people feel guilty: you cannot control individuals, let alone their thoughts. What we can do, however, is take our responsibilities and adopt practices to limit this danger.
What’s next after this ad
How to regulate Sharing to limit its dangers?
In a world that wants to be connected, it seems difficult to ask parents to stop posting photos/videos of their child. However, some precautions are useful for limit the risks of practice. At the microphone of France Info**, the president of the association The Blue Child advise parents to “pay attention to their photos but also to secure their networks.”
Thus, she recommends scrupulously control each friend requestto limit its subscribers on all social networks, and to take care not to publish “suggestive photos: naked children, in bathing suits or in gymnastic outfits”. The shots to be preferred are those taken from afar, where the toddler cannot be clearly seen. We can also put an emoji on his face to hide it.
And if the sorting of followers has not been done upstream, it is always possible to correct the situation downstream. On Facebook, instagramor Snapchat, we can create private distribution groups, reserved for our closest subscribers (the famous lists of “close friends” on Instagram for example). This can be a good solution to protect our darlings and continue to post with confidence.
What’s next after this ad
Sharing photos on networks: repercussions on the future
In addition to fueling pedocrime, Sharing can also entail other dangers for the child concerned, such as school bullying oridentity theft. Indeed, the content published on the Internet is never erased, it leaves a trace to which we always have access and which we can always use. The photos can therefore be misused to create false papers, or used to humiliate and manipulate the young person who has been exposed. An advertisement from Deutsche Telekom has illustrated this indelibility very well. The little girl star of the TV spot addresses her parents saying: “what you share about me online is like a fingerprint that will follow me for the rest of my life.”
Repercussions that are all the more difficult for the child to accept since he did not choose them: he did not consent to his parents publishing images of him, being too young to give his opinion. Involuntarily, her dad and her mom therefore flouted her private life, did not respect his image rights. Certainly, as a parent, we are certainly not responsible for the behavior of these delinquent paedocriminals; but being aware of the impact Sharing can have on a child’s life is important. This allows you to act accordingly and take measures to limit the dangers.
Freelance journalist
Open-minded and in love with life, Emilie likes to decipher the new phenomena that shape society and relationships today. Her passion for the human being motivates her to write…