AFTER SPOTTING A FACEBOOK comment about my three-year-old daughter on the newsfeed of a friend of an extended friend, I realised I have to stop sharing snaps of my toddler. It's something that Mitch Joel or Krishna De would have advised me to consider years ago and something that John Collins might also prefer as a best practise. I think it's delightful to share stories about how children get to grips with technology at the earliest ages. But I don't think I have the right to expose a pre-school child to possible media attention. At least once a month, I know that one of my images gets used in a publication. I'm sure three or four images belonging to me are nicked and mashed up for someone else's benefit. I don't mind as much if it's merely a photo of a thing but when it's a face or a family moment, I start to feel my Amish side. So I'm dialing down the settings on Mia's online presence, slowly removing her from public albums. I can trust Flickr and Six Apart to keep her locked down for "family" viewing only. And when she's well into her teenage years, I'll let her decide what she wants to open up to share. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on US versions of DVDs for Christmas greetings. And I'm also producing a few paper-based photo albums for special collections.
John Collins -- "Barney says to share is to care but must it be my iPhone?" in the Irish Times, 27 August 2010.
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