Just a gentle reminder…

[hordunhayor]

@salomie Pedophiles. Identity theft. Unethical use of photos. Etc etc etc.

 

[salomie]

@hordunhayor I can't stop people doing what they want with pictures in private. So whatever I don't care. It doesn't hurt me or my kid.

How could they possibly steal my child's identity from a picture?

Unethical use of photos? I feel like this is just your first point be worded differently. This still doesn't hurt me or my kid.

Could you think of anything else? Or expand on your second point? I'm still not seeing how any of this would harm us.

 

[lawi]

@salomie You don’t care about some pedophile looking at your kid? You can stop people doing what they want with pictures in private by not posting them in public forums??

 

[salomie]

@lawi I don't care about things I can't change. And if I want to share a picture of my kid I will do so without letting some creep in a room somewhere stop me.

Should I not let my kids go to the beach because there might be a pedo there looking at my kid? This is what your argument sounds like. I'm not curtailing my life because of what others do.

Now if a pedo trys to touch my kid, thats when some violence will occur.

 

[lawi]

@salomie You don’t need to/can’t wrap your kid in a bubble of course, but not posting photos to the internet is a very simple no effort way to minimize that harm as much as you can. Keep in mind photos can also be saved/distributed.

Kids also can’t consent to having their photos shared for an unknown number of random strangers on the internet to see. We are already seeing people pushing back against their images being shared on social media when they were young.

I know sharing images of babies is a common thing to do in the social media age and it seems fun and harmless. I’m not trying to shame you for it - just something to keep in mind.

 

[celticroseinfj]

@salomie I mean I agree with you but at the end of the day, people are free to so as they please. You can chose or chose not to share pictures of your kids online. People who are judging are only doing so to make themselves feel better about their own personal choice.

 

[hordunhayor]

@salomie I literally don’t care what someone does with their own family photos I was just responding to your question. I post my own son’s pictures on my Instagram account so to each their own.

But if it doesn’t bother you to post pictures to a public Reddit, where most certainly pedophiles lurk and save photos and generally are disgusting, then that’s that I guess.

And again, I don’t know you or what you post, but some people forget how much they share in previous posts and comments. Some people don’t pay attention to identifiable information located in pictures. Some people forget that unless the feature is turned off your phone geotags your photos. People can piece things together more so than they may think. All these things are unlikely, but have happened and could happen and continue to happen.

 

[salomie]

@hordunhayor The points with geo location and stuff make sense. Thx for pointing that out.

Ifk why people are downvoting me for asking a legitimate question though. People are weirdly agro when others ask questions.

 

[wilts43]

@salomie It feels like another thing to shame parents for, like "oh you don't care about pedophiles seeing your fully clothed child????"

 

[salomie]

@wilts43 Huh? Can you explain what you mean? I can't tell what point you are trying to make.

 

[wilts43]

@salomie I'm saying I agree with you, that there isn't anymore harm in a random person on the street seeing your kid (who could be a pedophile) and someone on the Internet.

 

[salomie]

@wilts43 Yup. I feel the same way. But someone did point out that there could be geo location and other info tag in photos. Which that makes sense.

But take a minute and think about all the downvotes I'm getting for asking a question. Kind of sad for those people.

 

[downdraft]

@salomie You’re not being downvoted for asking questions. You’re being downvoted because when you got answers you said you didn’t care. There is a myriad of articles and studies about the dangers associated with posting your child’s photos/videos online.

 

[salomie]

@downdraft No I said I don't care about things I cannot change. There is nuance.

 

[wilts43]

@salomie The geolocation critique is fair. I don't post pics of my kid but I just get annoyed by all the alarmism, if there's a valid reason behind a concern I'm more than willing to hear it though.

 

[salomie]

@wilts43 Same. But ive noticed already that parents are the easiest to scare and the quickest to gang up into a lynch mob.

 

[downdraft]

@salomie I never said that anyone should be scared, so I’m not sure why you put that in quotes. Everyone, adults included, should be cognizant of the information they put online. A quick google search yields many results, articles, studies and anecdotes about problems that arise from posting your child’s photo online.

This post was not an attempt to fearmonger, but a gentle reminder that the internet is not exactly the safest place to be sharing our children’s personal information or images. As I said, it’s the parents prerogative on what they choose to do when it comes to sharing media or their child. I just wanted to remind parents to put extra thought into those decisions.