Parents on posting: ‘People will think something is wrong with your baby if you don’t share photos online’

Attitudes towards social media are changing. Parents who once cheerfully posted images of their children online are grappling with new concerns around safety, identity theft, informed consent and AI.

Here parents share the stories of their evolving social media usage.

‘I don’t feel right sharing information if he doesn’t want to share it himself’

Melissa Carton is the mother of two children, aged 13 and eight. She works in media production in Dublin. Her perspective on social media has changed a lot since her first child was born. Back then, she felt comfortable posting pictures of her baby son online.

“When Instagram started, everyone was throwing everything up. You’d post everything. The same with Facebook. Everyone wanted you to tag them in everything. There was an influx of people posting their kids on blogs and YouTube videos; it was quite normalised.”

In recent years, she has begun to pull back and post less. “I’m more aware now my kids are getting older,” she says. “If someone decides they don’t like you at school and they look up your parents, they could find something they can use to make fun of you. There is a digital footprint. Anything can be found. You’ve given it to the internet and you can’t take it away again.”

Carton, who is 36, is learning to take her cues from her son’s generation. “The boys don’t seem to post the way we did when we were younger. They’re not posting photographs, they’re not sharing a lot about themselves. I don’t feel right sharing information if he doesn’t want to share it himself.”

These days she rarely uploads a family snap. “My Facebook is closed off, that’s just friends and family. Generally it would be the odd post on Instagram,” she says. “Maybe a family photo or a collage if it’s one of their birthdays. It’s very sporadic that I would post.”

‘People will think something is wrong with your baby if you don’t share photos online’

Marie* works in a