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No, not without their permission. Most social platforms have “Legacy Settings” - what happens to your social media when you die - in place for a reason.
When you’re 6-feet under and dust in the wind, it’s still important to maintain a proper presence on social media. Though you probably won’t be posting as much.
Before you post a photo or video of an older person to the internet, make sure by reasonable means the person in the photo is OK with it.
Thou shalt not tap SEND. When you’re about to post a photo with an senior’s face in it, try to resist those juicy likes and related DMs which light such elation.
There are some fun ways to get around it.
A great way to stay in touch with an aging family member - together or apart - is the Amazon Echo voice-activated family helper. #ad
Posting old people’s photos to social media increases risk of exploitation.
Posting photos of the elderly to social media is a controversial topic still debated today. Outrage online followed by court intervention (one case determined, nursing homes can legally post faces of their elderly residents to social media).
Why is it such an ethical dilemma?
Risk for exploitation.
Most people think about exploitation like this:
But in the age of social media, exploitation also happens like this:
If you don’t know, “Likes” and “Followers” are the currency of social media. The more you have, the more valuable your social media handle becomes.
Check yourself before you wreck yourself if you’re posting photos of your grandma and grandpa online on the hush hush so your other family members don’t find out.
Don’t be puppeting people.
You see, the “bad guys on the internet” could be within your own family.
On TikTok, for example, the hashtag #Dementia gets billions and billions of views. Beyond social validation that your online content is good (those likes and followers), in 2023 there are countless ways people start making actual money running a social media account.
For now, with me and me dad, I’m sticking to blurry faces and stick figure dancin’.
The old saying goes “There’s an app for that.” Though now that Steve Jobs is rich history, the media’s gone a-slandering claiming Jobs Not the iPhone Genius We Thought.
See now how you gotta protect granny’s social handles before it’s too late?
Luckily, there really are several apps for that. How to keep the aging person’s face off the internet, while still posting a photo or video of them for public consumption?
Snapchat might still be hip with the youngsters these days, and they’ve got plenty of face filters and lenses that make a person unrecognizable to most people. Those who know that funky figure in the video is Grandpa Doug (only because you told them so) will like it too.
For families with dementia in the household, this could be the party of a century or something the person with dementia never wants to do again.
My dad for example? I accidentally subjected my dad to watching Netflix’s 3D animated Pinocchio (he can no longer operate the TV), and my father never wants to watch that movie again, because it scares him.
Nevermind. You could use a more normal Snapchat filter.
In fact, Snapchat’s not the only app that lets you take fun videos with warped colors, characters, beauty enhancers, and age-reducers, and all the filters under the sun.
Even back in 2019, there were dozens of camera apps that do just one thing: let you take photos and videos with a fun face filter on.
Here’s an idea - try one of these apps when taking selfies with your aging family member, and post that to the group chat!
I’m a caregiver who’s trying to have more dance parties to loosen my dad’s joints up and make a little excitement when the Michigan winter’s reached March.
I was wondering if there was a way I could video record me and my dad dancing, and post it here, or on our social media accounts.
I’m lucky to find a Stick Figure Recorder free to use online, which can be found and used here.
But that got me thinking there must be more ways my dad and me can shoot media of ourselves without shooting ourselves in the digital privacy foot.
I didn’t even need to download an app or sign up for anything.
There’s one special warning for seniors though, the black and white of this dancing stick figure of yourself is pretty flashy to to point its challenging to watch can get a little seizure-ish if you play it fast.
