Do you know what sharenting is?

Sharenting is a compound word for 'share' and 'parenting.' It refers to sharing a child's photo or video on social media.

We live in an era where we can easily access photos of children. From not only acquaintances but also people we don't know at all, including Instagram, Facebook, and KakaoTalk. According to a 'Save the Children study', 86.1% of parents post pictures or videos of their children on social media. Of these, 35.8% said that they had their profiles public so that anyone could see them. If you search for the tag 'parenting' on Instagram, you can see 43.6 million posts.

It's normal to want to show other people photos of your beautiful child. But did you know that this can come with potential risks and dangers?

Why is sharenting an issue?

1. Possible crime target

It is important to take caution when it comes to photos where a child's face is clearly visible or their personal information is revealed. Most importantly, nude pictures of your baby.
In 2014 in Korea, police identified an illegal private website that posted pictures of young children for pedophiles to see, which were stolen from a website for a daycare center.

2. Your photos or videos may get stolen and used for identity theft.

There are many cases of identity theft and catfishing all over the internet. This includes stealing children's photos for product reviews.
Among the many different identity theft cases, many of these criminals steal children's pictures for their own benefit. For example, pictures were stolen for product reviews for snacks, or scammers used photos as their profile pictures on second-hand buying & selling websites. In extreme cases, a mother shared a photo of her daughter in a swimsuit on social media, and her photos circulated through child pornography websites.

3. It is a serious violation to invade the privacy of a child.

Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow recently posted a picture of her 14-year-old daughter at a ski resort on Instagram, which garnered 170,000 likes and 2,000 comments. But her daughter, Apple, said, 'Mom, we talked about this. Don't post my photos without my consent.'
Recently, in Korea, sharenting has become a huge issue due to the controversy over Si-Young Lee's son.

Sharenting is becoming a more significant issue in Korea these days. Does this give you an idea of how important privacy is? Your child's safety should come first, and your child's privacy needs to be respected.

Blur.me strives to help people use social media more efficiently and safely!