Online privacy is a huge worry these days. The use of security software such as VPN services is increasing. Parents are increasingly using parental controls when their children use digital devices. However, too many people are willing to sacrifice a piece of their privacy for enjoyment on social media—and sharing amplifies the risks.

We have all heard of identity theft, and you may have even been a victim of it. Obtaining sensitive information straight from social media remains an effective and simple strategy for identity thieves. Unfortunately, children are increasingly becoming targets.

According to a Carnegie Mellon CyLab study conducted in 2011, child identity theft is 51 times more common than adult identity theft. Plunkett explains that this is because a kid is like a “clean slate with no credit history.” Metadata attached to children’s photos and videos might well put them at risk of profiling and other cyberattacks later in life.

Adults often share highly confidential information within their happy-moment posts, too. This exposes them and their families to real physical danger, especially putting children at risk of grooming and stalking.

There’s also a very important element to consider: once you post an image online, you lose your exclusive ownership. Other users can do anything they want with it—a fertile ground for child sexual abuse.

This invasion of children’s privacy doesn’t just lead to invasive commercial practices or illegal conduct. Sharenting can also have a psychological impact on kids as they grow up.

“Each of us decides what to share and how to represent ourselves on social media. Kids are denied this choice.”

Serena Mazzini, a social media strategist who has long advocated against the risk of sharenting,  explained how Generation Alpha (kids born between 2010 and 2025) is, in fact, the first generation that will have to come to terms with a publicly accessible digital library of their childhood once they become adults.

A 2019 Microsoft study found that 42% of teenagers across 25 countries stated that they have a problem with their parents posting their images on social media. That’s because kids reaching 13 or 14 (the legal age required to have a social media account) are eager to carve out their own digital presence.

“Yet, the contents published by their parents often do not reflect the image they would like to give of themselves,” said Mazzini. “They feel caged in a representation that they did not choose.” This could make kids more likely to endure cyberbullying during their teen years and impact their ability to build their own identity later in life.

Legislators are now looking at how to regulate the issue, with Italy being one of the last of “too few countries” considering a law against sharenting, while the State of Illinois in the US and France have recently enforced new rules. Legislative efforts are still a rarity, though, and many argue that the reach of such laws is limited anyway.

There is always the so-called right for “digital oblivion – Both Italian and French laws include the option for kids to ask that their digital information be deleted from the web once they are old enough to do so. However, it’s arguably impossible to really erase something from the internet.

Posting about your kids on social media? @UFlaw’s @sgsteinberg, a world expert on “sharenting,” offers these tips for their safety and wellbeing. 🧵(1/9) pic.twitter.com/hI6K3aonDR

— University of Florida Research (@UFexplore) September 1, 2023

As a society, we’ve always jumped onto trends before really understanding the long-term effects it could have on us. The internet changed everything, but it’s only now that we truly understand the inherent dangers that came with the greatest invention since the TV remote control. Perhaps we should keep the kids out of it.

[source:techradar]