The evolution of the world is leading us to assume new levels of responsibility in different areas, and the digital plane is one of them. A responsibility that goes through what we share online, but that becomes more relevant when we talk about what we share about our children. Without realizing it, we can make them victims of a fraud that will take several years to complete.
According to an estimate by Barclays, if it continues at its current rate by 2030, “sharenting” could be responsible for 7.4 million annual cases of identity theft, and more than 800 million dollars of online fraud. . It should be remembered that “sharenting” is the practice through which parents share photos and information of their children online, mainly through social networks.
Surely you have heard about the famous fingerprint (digital footprint in English), since said footprint can be tracked by hackers, fraudsters and some innocent photos can be built in the file of a minor – without their knowledge or having given their approval – to be used in some type of scam, blackmail or fraud.
And if the idea of fraud isn’t scary enough, think for a second that that summer vacation beach photo you posted on Facebook or Instagram ends up on some child pornography ring, or just exposes its minor in the eyes of a pedophile.
According to a study carried out by Pew Research during 2021, 40% of respondents under 30 years of age (in the United States) declared suffering from some type of cyber bullying; 11% of those cases were of sexual harassment and another 11% of persecution.
Another study, in this case from Comparitech, found that parents identified that 19% of the bullying suffered by young people occurs online, that is, through social networks and other types of platforms. on-line like games. And the ages that gather more victims of this phenomenon are between 11 and 18 years, where more than 55% of the sample reported some type of harassment.
Statistics are important to give us context of a problem, in this case, the consequences of sharing the lives of our little ones on the Internet. But no study is going to tell us how much their privacy is violated or not when we post something simply because we find it “nice”, we are “proud” or we simply like to expose our lives (actually it is theirs) before the eyes of our friends and family.
Perhaps today’s parents are not aware of what this implies, hence the reflection that these words invite. A simple image can be the breeding ground for even a “friend” or acquaintance to become a victim of harassment, fraud or grooming to our children with consequences that go far beyond a bad experience or material loss; harassment that begins online can lead to death.