And only 13% of children with parents who post photos of them online are routinely asked for permission
Gwyneth Paltrow was criticised by her daughter, Apple, for posting a photo of the pair on Instagram without permission. Commenting publicly on the post, Apple said “Mom we have discussed this. You may not post anything without my consent”.
Clearly some families are negotiating rules of engagement for social media, but a new YouGov RealTime survey of 863 children aged between eight and 15 finds that a third (34%) of kids whose parents post photos of them never ask permission.
A further third (34%) sometimes get asked, and 18% are normally asked, while only 13% are always consulted.
Overall, two thirds of eight to 15 year olds (66%) say their parents post photos of them on social media.
Not being asked for permission clearly doesn’t bother all children, with approaching half (46%) of those whose parents post photos of them reporting that they are fine with it.
However, a similar proportion (44%) say that they want to be able to approve of the photos their parents choose to post, and a further 7% want to ban their parents from posting any at all.
The older children in the survey (those aged between 13 and 15) were noticeably more likely to want to exercise editorial control over the photos of themselves (57%) than the younger children (32% of eight to 12 year olds).
Among those who either want to approve their parents’ photos of them or ban them entirely, the main motivation is embarrassment. Six in ten (62%) of these children find the photos their parents post of them humiliating (perhaps understandable, not least given a separate YouGov survey of parents found that 14% are posting nude photos of their children as infants).
Photo: Getty
The YouGov Children’s Omnibus interviews a representative sample of children aged 8 to 15 on a weekly basis. To find out more about YouGov’s Children’s Omnibus, please click here.
