All you proud parents out there may want to stop posting photos of your wonderful amazing brilliant children, or at least start asking them if it’s okay to share them first, judging by a new
survey conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and University of Michigan.
The researchers polled 249 parent-child pairs about their families’ use of technology,
including rules and expectations, and found that one of the most common requests from children ages 10-17 was that parents stop posting photos without their permission.
The study, titled
“Not at the Dinner Table: Parents’ and Children’s Perspectives on Family Technology Rules,” found that when children and parents were asked to make rules for parenting around
technology, 18% of children specified “no oversharing,” compared to just 7% of parents.
The authors note that, “children’s frustrations with parents’ oversharing
stands apart as a challenge that transcends existing power dynamics. Child participants reported that they find this content embarrassing and feel frustrated that parents publicly contribute to their
online presence without permission.”
On that note, the U.S. study comes not long after the French national police force warned parents to think twice about posting photos of their
children on Facebook or other social networks, due in large part to concern they may be violating their privacy, as well as exposing them to danger from unsavory adults.
The French police
posted the following statement on Facebook: “You can all be proud moms and dads to your magnificent children, but be careful. We remind you that posting photos of your kids to Facebook is not
without danger!” Among other things they warned that these photos could contribute to “social or psychological problems that children could face later in life.”
Previously, a
study by the Australian government’s Children eSafety Commissioner found that up to half of the images of children shared on sites frequented by pedophiles originally came from social media.