Protection of children’s privacy in the digital era.

Every child must be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse on the internet UNICEF

With the advent of technology, there have been great advancements in the interconnectivity of people across all spheres in the world. Information sharing has never been easier, and with that risk.

According to UNICEF, Children are spending more time online than ever before. And they’re getting there sooner. Around the world, a child goes online for the first time every half second.

What does it mean for children? There has been adoption of new learning methods and incorporation of video demonstrations in addition to the traditional methods of teaching which help capture the attention of the learners more.

Parents can also be more directly involved in the learning of the child with increased interactions with other parents and discussion on the best methods to help children learn.

Rarely a day passes by without the exciting thrill of new parents sharing their journey and their newborn infants on social media platforms. This sharing of experiences with other new parents on the challenges they are facing, provides an avenue to grow and learn from other parents.

However, placing the child’s photograph, although the intentions of the parent may be innocent, they may be misconstrued by cunning individuals with the intent to harm. More often than not there have been reported incidents of a child’s picture being used for marketing gimmicks with exposure of the child’s private life and no reimbursement to the parent.

A parent also sharing their child’s photograph while they are in diapers or in early infancy would be innocuous at the time but with the child coming of age it might not be so. The consequence is they may develop low self-esteem as a result of bullying since the pictures are easily retrievable by peers and other individuals.

What does this mean for parents? Parents should strive as much as possible to protect their children’s information such as their school of attendance, place of residence and photographs to the general public. A parent should be aware of the far-reaching consequences of sharing the personal information of the child despite the joys and thrills of new parenthood.

For parents of older children, the content and substance of what pre-teens and teenagers are engaging in should be the concern of the parent. Open and healthy discussions on social media content and what is and is not allowed to be shared on social media should be part of everyday discussions. Teenagers should have safe and open avenues in schools to be able to raise issues of cyber bullying or harmful predatory behaviors. Only with this can we ensure the safety of our children in the digital sphere.