“The mothers said the downsides of using social media were that it could sometimes feel superficial and contribute to feelings of depression, some had privacy concerns and some were concerned about modelling behaviour to their small children,” she says.
“Some mothers were so concerned about privacy that they never posted photos online while others didn’t have any privacy concerns.
“What we did find though is that there is a real lack of digital literacy, we heard one example where a woman was in hospital and posted a photo and tagged the hospital and was then surprised to see that their photo was on the hospital’s page for anyone to see,” she says.
And it is the unlimited access of strangers, or even people on your “friend lists” that can pose a threat, experts warn.
Office of the eSafety Commissioner outreach program manager Kellie Britnell says limiting your audience was paramount when sharing content related to your children online.
“One only has to look at the uptake of social media and the ability to share photos easily and instantly to be able to make the generalisation that it is happening more than ever before,” she says.
“Everyone wants to share images of their babies online and we would never advocate people not to share but you need to limit and know your audience.”
Part of the Office of the e-Safety Commissioner’s remit is to investigate prohibited online content, which gives them a unique insight into a disturbing practice where ordinary photos are harvested from personal social media accounts and then traded between people with an unhealthy interest in children, Ms Britnell says.
“Privacy settings are absolutely vital and you can’t just set and forget, because with any social media platform privacy settings are always changing,” she says.
“You should also keep track of your friend lists and refine them regularly as you might have forgotten adding someone, or not be comfortable with some people on your lists having access to your content.”
And proud grandparents, aunties and uncles need to be aware, that posting photos of someone else’s children or babies is not only bad etiquette, but also in some cases unsafe.
“When it isn’t your child you do have an obligation to ask permission because you might be surprised that someone you are very close to, like your daughter or son or sister or brother, might have a very different position on what they will and won’t share online.”
“Our ability to share and publish to a wide audience is not going away and everyone is building up an etiquette in a space that we’ve never had to think about before,” she says.
For those that do want to share photos of their babies and children online, Kellie recommends; having the highest possible privacy settings on your account, using closed groups within platforms like Facebook or Instagram, or using WhatsApp, or similar messenging platforms or even email to share photos with a select audience.
It was also important to be mindful of consent, according to Ms Britnell.
Seeking consent of the parents of the baby or child whose photo you are posting, and eventually when they are old enough, consent from your child, is vital.
“It’s hard when kids are very little, they can’t give you permission to share aspects of their lives online, but as soon as they can speak and understand, it is an ideal time to talk about notions of consent and ask them if you can take their photo and then if you can share it,” she says.
“It would be great if more people were more conscious of not making the decision to share their children’s lives, before their children can decide if they want that to happen.
“The thing to remember is once an image is online, you have no control over what happens to that image.
“So if you are prepared to post a child’s image you have to be prepared for potential negative behaviours associated with that photo.”
