Managing Your Child's Digital Footprint

• Author | Marlee Sacks
• Date | 2/4/2020 11:10 am

You and your spouse have just come home from the hospital with your brand-new daughter. Of course, you must capture the moment of bringing your daughter home for the very first time, so you decide to take your first family photo and share it with the world. 

The very moment you choose to post that photo on the internet for the world to see, your daughter’s digital footprint has been created.

Did you know that more and more children have an increasing digital presence before they can even talk? As much as we want to share our important events that happen in life, it is extremely important to remember that anything shared online has the potential to live there forever, even if we don’t want them to. *We have to consider that the photos we share online are not only seen by everyone we know but can also be seen by strangers. Anyone who has access to that photo can download it and perhaps use it for their own advantage.

A digital footprint can be positive or negative depending on the types of pictures you share and what exactly is in the pictures that you share. We are talking about personal information here! Before posting a photo online check it for any evidence that could potentially disclose information about the specific details of you and your family’s lives. 

Remember to be mindful about the personal data you could just be giving away without even knowing that you’re doing it. For example, an innocent video could possibly show your street number in the background. A birth announcement posted on social media could give away your child’s full name as well as the parents’ names too. All of this information could be found and used by an identity thief who could then altar the future of your child’s life.

Like it or not, this is the reality for kids today. As a parent, you may want to think twice about the pictures you choose to post online because you never know what you could be giving away. 

*Cathie, “Managing Your Child's Digital Footprint,” Intelius Blog (Intelius Blog, September 20, 2018))