Everything We Publish Online, Stays Online

In the wrong hands, any content that we publish online about our children can be an instrument for their humiliation. Guaranteeing a child’s safety and protection is a parent’s main task.

The things we post online cannot be delete easily. If content which contains our children, siblings or grandchild goes viral, this will accompany them for the rest of their lives.

Cyber bullying and pedophilia can be avoided by taken the proper steps.

The consequences of our digital acts are well known these days. Everything we publish online is saved for good. No matter how hard we try, we may never be able to eliminate it completely.

That’s why we must be careful with what we and our children publish online. We should think twice before sharing something to make sure it is appropriate.

Overexposure and cyber bullying

Cyber bullying can begin between the ages of 10 to 12 years. Most children connect using their devices to send pictures.

That isn’t including the content that adult family members upload. These pictures can sometimes be the cause of cyber bullying.

A funny, inappropriate or badly taken picture can become a source of digital abuse.

Other children can save the picture and republish it. They can even post offensive comments or modify the picture. This is something that is very common on social networks nowadays.

The consequences of these chain publications can be drastic. You only need a page, a Facebook group or a profile to make content go viral.

The results of this can be traumatic for the child or young person affected by it.

When we publish something online, flaws may be highlighted

The current dynamics on social networks tend to the exaltation of the funny, the ironic or the sarcastic. Our own interactions are usually to point out details or to laugh at a publication.

In the wrong hands, any content that contains our children can be the instrument of their degradation.

Parents must be the main censors of their children’s and family’s publications. It isn’t hard to verify whether the content is offensive or not. Keep in mind that images can be modified.

Relatives may post pictures which contain your children without realizing the state of their privacy settings. As a result, photos or videos of your children may be seen by anyone worldwide.

The Sam Griner effect

Maybe his name isn’t very well known, but Sam is a child that we’ve all seen online.

His picture with a raised fist and a green shirt has been seen by millions of people online. This image became what we know as a “meme.”

This occurred because his mother published a picture of him on her profile in 2007. Now we all know that image, we often forget that it’s a photograph of a real person.

What we’ve seen with Sam Griner can happen to any picture that we publish online. It only requires the influence of a person on Facebook or Instagram to share the picture with their followers.

There are people online who are solely dedicated to doing this kind of thing.

What kind of pictures should we avoid?

• Close-up pictures: Don’t publish pictures in which the child appears making funny faces or gestures. Marked gestures are the main source of memes and funny pictures on the internet.
• Images with nudity: Even if it’s just a baby, the publication of this type of photo can be dangerous. We have to keep in mind that there are users and pages dedicated to pedophilia and child pornography.
• Images with suggestive poses: This applies especially to young people. An innocent pose can easily become viral content.

Two recommendations to protect what you publish online

The habit of maintaining a private profile is a great way to protect your children’s data. On Facebook there is a configuration that allows only your friends to see your publications.

Twitter and Instagram on the other hand allow us to control the people who see our profiles.

We should control the tags that we make of family and friends. Once content is labeled, it can be seen by people we don’t even know. It is recommended that relatives notify you first before publishing your child’s content.

In conclusion, watching what we publish online is important to protect our children’s well-being and privacy. These recommendations apply to little ones and to parents as well.