Sharenting leaves Brits without physical record of family photos

In today’s world, a child’s digital footprint starts before birth – from gender reveal photos and due date announcements, to first birthday and Christmas uploads. Now, with data by Nominet revealing that 32% of parents said they upload, on average, 11-20 new photos of their child per month, Brits now share almost 1,500 images of their child online before their 5th birthday. Yet as parents aim to protect their child’s privacy online, many of these shared images blur or cover their face with an emoji.

‘Sharenting’ represents a step away from family photo albums and baby books, which previously grew thick with childhood memories. As parents migrate to the digital space, data by PastBook has now unveiled that 52% of parents don’t own any physical copies of their child’s photos, with 29% of the nation agreeing that their social media accounts are the most accurate representation of their life story.

Unlike the childhood photo albums that many of us can reminisce on- now, childhood images remain on a digital platform, with many pixelated to cover faces. Further to this, with the photographic record of our childhood memories often being left on devices or lost, parents today may no longer be able to pass along the story of their children’s lives in photographs.

PastBook – a unique instant photo book service – is encouraging parents to transform their child’s most unforgettable years in living memory into an image-based memoir preserved forever, once which can be reflected on in years to come. Using sophisticated technology, PastBook automatically creates a photo book of users’ best Instagram, Facebook, Dropbox, Flickr, Picasa, computer, phone, or tablet photos captured over the past year, and instantly arranges them into a high-quality photo book.

Daniel Scheijen, CMO of PastBook, discusses the value of passing along the story of their children’s lives in physical photographs:

“Today, with so many parents documenting every aspect of their child’s life – from first birthday and Christmas uploads, to first steps – many now have a digital photo album of their child’s most important life memories. Yet, with so many parents now blurring the face of their child due to privacy issues or leaving these images on their devices, parents today may no longer be able to pass along the story of their children’s lives in photographs.

At PastBook, we create well-curated, stylistic logs of our images and turn them into image-based memoirs – preserved forever. As such, parents can still document their child’s early years, and can easily look back at these images in years to come.”