The other night, I was stuffing my face with a
"Dirty Burger" from DOA and gabbing with
Ruthy,
Libby, and
Mandy about all kinds of things. The conversation, naturally, went to blogging and we talked about how much to share about our private lives, specifically our children. There have been some recent incidents of stolen photos, blogs changing names or going private, mean comments and stalking. That is some totally real and very scary stuff. In general, I try not to have irrational thoughts about my safety. The chances of getting mugged, murdered or stalked are very slim. However, it
does happen. It was my choice not to share BB's name on the internet. I've taken our business off of Google apps, which is hurting our business, but I don't want
anyone finding our address. I'm careful to share when Dan is out on tour and when we travel.
I struggle with how much I should share about our kiddo, how many photos to post. I share about him because I am in love with him and he is my whole world! (PLUS! He's an infant who needs our full-time attention, thus, there's not much else going on in my life). There are certain things, legal things, which I cannot share about "BB" and there are certain things we chose not share about him. Do we really live in a world where we need to watermark all of our photos? Perhaps we do. And that is a sad, sad thing.
I've gone back and forth about the same issues. I got a PO box for my business (although, I haven't checked it in months), and I too don't put my son's name on public venues. I keep his actual bday off of the internet. But, I'm not good at watermarking all my photos, I have my instagram feed on public (it is a great marketing tool), and I'm pretty sure people could figure out a lot about me, my family, and my son if they took the time to really scour what I've put out there. Who knows... I mean, a huge portion of kids nowadays are going to be all over the internet. Is it right/safe? I think it is too early to tell. Personally, I've decided to do my best to not share things that he may someday look back on as embarrassing (hello naked baby photos), to not post too much of his personal information, and keep our home/street/address as safe as possible. We live in a very public world. Hopefully I can become more aware of dangers and diligent in avoiding them.
ReplyDeleteI one heard a statistic that 92% of babies in the U.S. has an "online presence". So, I guess it is "normal" to share but is it safe? You're right... it's too early to tell.
ReplyDeletePictures of babies online are cute but sometimes it's too much especially if you have your blog open to public consumption and Even if you don't people can find it and do with it as they please!!
ReplyDeleteI never did understand this... What exactly are you afraid people will do with photos of your child? Not trying to be sassy, genuinely curious!!
ReplyDeleteI follow an instagramer whose photo of her daughter was made into T-shirts....and there's a blogger whose kids were put on an adoption website. People do weird things with photos these days.
DeleteI follow an instagramer whose photo of her daughter was made into T-shirts....and there's a blogger whose kids were put on an adoption website. People do weird things with photos these days.
Delete