Pregnancy and social networks: why you shouldn’t publish your children’s photos

You decide to take a break between one thing and another and open Facebook
or Instagram driven by the curiosity to “see” what happens in the world
outside the usual four walls or your normal routine. You start browsing the
homepage and notice that 70% of the board is clogged by your “friends” who,
posting a picture of their large belly, write descriptions like “Mom and
Dad are waiting for you!”, “He’s grown by a pound”, “I’m waiting for you my
little prince”, and so on, updating their followers on the continuous
progress of their gestation. But that’s not all. As you scroll further, you
come across a live social event in which your friend, close to the imminent
birth, feels the need to inform her “loved ones” of the happy event.

Perplexed, you disconnect and start to reflect on how making show of our
own lives has become, for many people, a necessity!

Why we share photos of pregnancy on social media

Until recently, pregnancy was an intimate moment that was mainly shared
with one’s partner, family and people who we could really call “our loved
ones”.

Today, however, frequently, we feel the need to share this important moment
with the whole world. The question that arises spontaneously is: why? What
are the reasons that push a future mother or father to post the image of
the ultrasound image of their child?

A possible reason could be emulation, that is, the desire to imitate a
certain person. “I saw my friend posting the picture of her belly and she
received a lot of attention, why can’t I do the same?”; “my daughter’s
ultrasound photo is more beautiful than the one posted by you!”, “famous
people and influencers do it, what’s wrong if I post the picture of my
new-born baby?” I am not a psychologist, but I wonder about what the
current social context proposes and presents as a harmless event. Well, we
should start to reflect on the possible consequences of a simple post which
may expose our children to dangerous situations and may damage their image
as well as their current or future physical or psychological status.

Before you post a photo, wait a while and reflect

Before we post the photo of the unborn child or the new-born, we should
think, for example, who are the “friends” with whom we will share the
picture. Are they real friends we trust or just acquaintances or people met
by pure chance in our lives and about whom, in reality, we know nothing?
Are we sure we want it posted with the “public” filter? How many potential
people would we give the possibility to view and, therefore, to download,
edit and save images on their hard disk? Let’s remember that today the
social world is populated also by profiles that are created by ill
intentioned people, just think for example of paedophilia, child
pornography, false identities, etc.

Anyone considering the decision to become a parent is used to take some
time with himself in order to acquire an awareness of the responsibility
that involves giving birth and raising a child. It is the same parental
responsibility that the law refers to when talking about marriage and the
rights and duties of parents and children. It includes the obligation of
parents “to maintain, raise, educate and morally assist their children,
respecting their abilities, natural inclinations and aspirations” and the
obligation to take any action in defence of their interests. In fact, in
Europe and many other countries there are new norms pointing to protect the
“digital” rights of the unborn child as a result of a new sensibility
regarding family privacy.

So,

what would be correct to share on our social networks? Any image that
does not give power to others to invade our privacy

! An example? Photos of body painting on growing bellies or happy people
during frantic shopping in search of discounted diapers.

Let’s rediscover the emotion of the intimacy of pregnancy

The world of social media is a showcase where the important thing is to
appear, not to be; so let’s be careful: would you ever want to see your
child displayed in a showcase? Would we like to be criticised one day by
our son, already grown up, for he, while scrolling the story of our
profile, he discovers an embarrassing picture of him without his consent?

So let’s close our smartphone and dedicate our real time to live those
emotions

and enjoy those important moments with those who really deserve, always
keeping in mind that, after all, our children are not our property!