From publishing the image of the first ultrasound during pregnancy to holiday or birthday photos, children’s lives – and identities – are increasingly digital. Parents share an average of 300 shots of their children on social networks every year, exposing them, often unknowingly, to many dangers. The SIP, the Italian Society of Pediatrics, has sounded the alarm about the risks that minors may run following such massive exposure to the dangers of the web, following the data that emerged from the study by the European Pediatrics Association, published on the website of the scientific Journal of Pediatrics.
The sharing phenomenon
The analysis investigates the phenomenon of sharenting, a neologism coined in the United States that derives from the English words “share” (to share) and “parenting” (parenting), i.e. the constant online sharing by mothers and fathers of content such as photos, videos or stories about their own children. A well-established habit that can involve risks ranging from the theft of personal data to the use of images on child pornography sites and, in the future, offering online material that could fuel episodes of bullying and cyberbullying.
The exposure of the minor in the times of social media
The research, of which Professor Peter Ferrara, head of the Sip Study Group for children’s rights, points out that a child already before his fifth birthday has achieved an online presence with almost a thousand photos posted by his parents. The most used social networks are, in order, Facebook (54%), Instagram (16%) and Twitter (12%). Furthermore, the publication is often accompanied by the addition of details such as the child’s name, his age and where he lives. “It should not be underestimated, however, that this practice can be associated with a series of problems that mainly affect children”, explains Pietro Ferrara. «Often, in fact, parents do not think that what is shared on social media, sometimes even very personal and detailed, dangerously exposes children to a series of risks, first of all identity theft. Not to mention – continues the professor – that intimate and personal information, which should remain private, in addition to the risk of being used improperly by others, can be a cause of embarrassment for the child once he becomes an adult, for example in job interviews and university admission. Finally, this type of parental sharing can inadvertently take away children’s right to determine their own identity.
The “sharentnig” begins from the period of pregnancy
A recent work, cited in the study, shows that on average 81% of children living in Western countries have some online presence before the age of 2, a percentage which in the USA is equal to 92%, while in Europe it stands at 73%. %. Recent data shows that within weeks of birth, 33% of babies have their own photos and information posted online. And an increasing number of children are born digitally even before natural birth. In fact, it is also estimated that a quarter of children have some kind of online presence before coming into the world: in the United States, 34% of parents routinely publish ultrasound scans online, a percentage that stands at 15% in Italy.
The risk is putting private moments at the mercy of everyone
According to research, sharenting is aimed at documenting the growth of children, sharing anxieties and worries, seeking information in the educational, pediatric and scholastic fields. The three types of photos that are most shared concern daily life (while the child sleeps, plays, eats), outings or trips and special moments such as Christmas, the moment of baptism, the first day of school or the birthday. «In the our system – underlines Ferrara – the image of the person is protected by various rules: the law on copyright which provides that no portrait of a person can be exhibited without the latter’s consent. Then there is article 10 of the civil code, which allows the request to remove an image that damages the dignity of a person with the consequent possibility of compensation for damages. However, an ambiguity must also be highlighted in the regulations that protect the image as we speak of “consent of the interested party” which, in the case of a minor, must be offered by his legal representative (article 316 of the Civil Code), i.e. just the parent.”