Did you know that posting a photo of your naked child with the hashtag #nakedchild could attract creeps? Makes a lot of fucking sense, but according to experts this is apparently new information to some parents who should probably never be allowed on the internet ever again.
Good Morning America reports that parents who go overboard with social media posts about their children—“sharenting”—aren’t just annoying everyone on their feeds, but are also exposing their children to predators.
There are always going to be predators online, so there’s only so much that a parent can do to stop them from seeing photos of their children other than never sharing photos online. But it’s pretty easy to avoid helping them out. Like, by not using hashtags that scream, “Hey pedophiles, look at my child:”
Among the list of hashtags, [CEO and founder of Child Protection System, Carly Yoost,] said #nakedchild and #modelingchild were especially dangerous.
But would you ever give a second thought to #bathtimefun, #toddlerbikini or #skinnybabybooty? Maybe not. Yet those are on the list as well.
“To a normal person and normal friends photos picture on the beach that’s cute to us cute to us might be seen very differently by predators,” Yoost told “GMA.” Child predators not only use the Internet to distribute pornography, but also to stalk children, share information, and trade tips and techniques on how to seduce and lure them into sexual encounters.
Though, perhaps one should give a second thought to using the hashtag #skinnybabybooty period. It’s just a terrible hashtag, regardless of the content it holds or who it attracts.
The Child Protection System also shared a list of questions parents should ask themselves before posting a photo of their child online (bolding mine):
1. Why am I sharing this?
2. Would I want someone else to share an image like this of me?
3. Would I want this image of my child viewed and downloaded by predators on the Dark Web?
4. Is this something I want to be part of my child’s digital life?
This is practical and forces parents to consider their children as actual human beings instead of fodder for cute content. But who would want any image of their child—#skinnybabybooty or otherwise—viewed by predators on the so-called Dark Web?
It’s sad that a photo of a toddler in a bathtub cannot be shared without potential creeps in mind, but that’s the world we live in. Also sad? That a new crop of parents who came of age online are making these excruciatingly rookie mistakes.