Ireland's 'Pause Before You Post' awareness campaign about kids is a must-watch for every parent

Many adults, including parents, have gotten accustomed to sharing their kids' wins and losses and distinct parts of their lives with the world on social media. A child’s birthday post or perhaps how proud you are of their first day at school, their intense love for a sport, or their super cute shopping date with dad — parents post with the idea of sharing their joy and maybe even to keep memories. However, the world doesn’t always take in this information as parents would hope, and there are repercussions far more dangerous than one might imagine. Ireland's Data Protection Commission launched the “Pause before you Post” campaign in November to alert parents to the consequences of their seemingly harmless actions. 

In a study published in 2024, experts shared the term “sharenting” referring to parents who share information about their kids online. This can include texts, posts, pictures, videos, and other sources of documentation. In the survey, where 228 parents responded, 98% admitted that they used social media. Of these, 75% posted information about their kids in some form or another. 31% from this category shared information about their kids before they turned 6 months old. The Data Protection Commission highlighted the crucial need for parents to understand how dangerous it can be to share personal information of their underage kids with the internet. 

Sharing in a post, the campaign video shows a short clip featuring a little girl walking around the mall with her parents. Within minutes, she is greeted and confronted by several strangers, each pointing out different personal things about her. One middle-aged man whom the family passed on the escalator greeted the girl by her name. “Do you know that man?” the mom asked. “No,” she replied, leaving the parents wondering how he knew her.

Another woman passing by wished the girl a happy birthday and added, “Eight already! Looks like you had a ball with your friends.” The little girl, now feeling confused and scared, wondered who these people were, sharing things she’d done without ever meeting them before. The parents, too, seemed confused, unable to grasp the situation. Another stranger spotted the trio and said to the girl, “Ah, I see you’re playing football on Thursdays. I hope your dad picks you up on time for once.” The girl, along with her parents, is now visibly perplexed. The video ends with the last stranger looking at pictures of the little girl, her playing football at the park, and so on, tracking what the parents posted. Then, he subtly screenshots one of her photos and surreptitiously places the phone back in his pocket. “Every time you share their life online, you risk sharing their personal data with the world. Pause before you post,” the caption of the video read.

“When all of this information is pieced together, it creates a digital footprint of someone’s online activity. By sharing images, videos and any kind of content featuring children, parents are (often unknowingly) creating a digital footprint for their child. This information can easily be pieced together by bad actors and lead to serious privacy and safety risks,” the website stated. @natashapisaniello said, “Kids are NOT content! Hopefully, this ad opens some parents' eyes.” @nienkesgravemade added, “How can we teach our children boundaries if we then fail to respect them online? Thank you for this one.” 

You can also watch the video on YouTube here.

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