Why We Don’t Share Our Baby’s Photo On Social Media

Whenever I share my family pictures on social media, my friends asked me, why I don’t share my baby’s pictures.  Why I hide his face every time? So I decided to share my view on it in today’s blog post.

I actually enjoy the concept of social media. I love being able to stay in touch with people. I love social media. I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. I enjoy seeing people like my posts and comments. Facebook, Instagram is the first thing I look at in the morning almost every day.

But, When I was pregnant, my husband and I made the decision not to share photos of our son on social media.

I think we grow up in the most safest and protected environment. Because our parent didn’t have a smartphone or social media during that time. In fact,  when we were Kids, our pictures get shared and liked when friends and relatives were visits our home.

In today’s online world where everything can be cached, archived, and stored in the cloud, we have to assume that anything we post online will be permanently available in some form. This certainly goes for adults too, but I feel that it is even more important with my kid.

What if sharing his life with strangers before he even knew who he Is. I don’t feel that it is my right to share about my child's life online and for some reason, if he wants in his teenage, he won’t be able to undo or un-share the things I’ve posted about him.

Many parents put their kid’s images on Facebook, Instagram; some of them even creating accounts on behalf of their children when they’re still babies. Facebook doesn’t allow the account of under age of 13. The most obvious reason for this is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, commonly referred to as COPPA. Passed in 1998, the act created strict requirements for "operators of websites or online services" that collect information from children under the age of 13.

Everyone wants to share pictures of their kids with friends and family. After all, baby’s are adorable, and who doesn’t have a cellphone camera handy at all times? But for me, I don’t want my kid on social media until he is old enough.

Think about this… If the details of a child’s life have been shared on social media from birth, a person could potentially find that child’s date and time of birth, eye color, hair color, photos, school location, and home address online. Which is absolutely not safe.

We truly have no idea what the future of technology holds for our children or what it will look like a decade from now. I’m personally trying to guard his future privacy in the only way I know how- by keeping his information offline until he decides he wants it there.

Also, I won’t keep my kid off social media forever as I’m not opposed to him using it when he will older and responsible enough. I had the safe childhood that wasn’t public and I’m trying to offer the same to my own child.

I share pictures of him doing activities on social media, I just don’t show his faces. I talk about him in a general way. If you want to, you could find more pictures of my son’s hair than you’d ever care to see. I am just trying really hard to afford my kids some online privacy.

Finally, respect everyone’s decision. Everyone has a personal choice. We don’t judge those who post photos of their babies, so please don’t judge us for not.