The Problem With Grandparents Posting Photos of Their Grandkids Online

Today children have a digital footprint before they are even born. (Think of all those pregnancy announcements that include ultrasound images.) According to a 2020 study conducted by the Parent Zone, a UK nonprofit which studies digital family life, the average parent shares almost 1,500 images of their child before their fifth birthday. The term “sharenting” to describe this phenomenon is becoming part of the lexicon.

But what about grandparents? Because parents themselves run the gamut from posting their child’s every move to never sharing a photo online, figuring out how to approach “grand-sharenting” is tricky. “Knowing when to share and where to share photos on social media is a big issue,” says Nancy Sanchez who teaches a grandparenting class as part of a perinatal program at Stanford’s Children Health in California. “Some parents have real privacy concerns, while some don’t mind at all.” The bottom line, says Sanchez, is “grandparents need to defer to the parents.”

So what’s the problem with posting photos of kids on Facebook, Instagram or other social media? The two biggest concerns are identity theft and child pornography.

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https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a39354905/grandsharenting-grandkids-photos-online-privacy/?source=nl&date=033022

I'd add kidnapping, child sex trafficking, murder, torture and sexual predation.

When I moved out here 3 years ago, I updated my Nextdoor profile to indicate where I lived now. And some woman had a hissy-fit because I didn't put my picture on. I told her I believed that to be somewhat dangerous---I don't KNOW any of you, just because you're a neighbor doesn't mean you're trustworthy, or a good person. People thoughtt Ed Bundy and Dennis Rader were good people too. And I also explained why it was dangerous that she had a photo of her own children on her profile......