Woman Blasted for Demanding Husband Deletes Picture of 5-Year-Old Stepson off Phone

A concerned mother has been branded "extremely paranoid" after demanding her husband take a picture of her 5-year-old son from a previous marriage off his phone.

Parents are, perhaps understandably, increasingly anxious about sharing images of their children online or on smartphone devices. However, one woman appears to have taken the concept to an unnecessary extreme.

Writing in a post upvoted 14,500 times on Reddit's "Am I The A**hole?" subreddit, a newly-married woman explained how she "got upset" during a diner out with her husband after noticing he had her son's picture "set as the homescreen wallpaper."

Though she acknowledges her husband "adores" her young son, she felt it was "not wise" for him to have a picture of him on his phone "for strangers to see."

Her husband insisted "no one touches his phone" and said she "shouldn't worry," noting that he has not posted it on social media and only has it "because he misses him when he's at work."

Despite this, his wife said she "demanded he remove it" at which point an "argument ensued" and she ended up walking out of the restaurant.

Since then, her husband has gone to stay at a hotel, telling her he was "deeply" hurt by her actions and has since removed the picture while noting he still thinks she "overreacted."

According to the post, the woman suspects her husband is waiting on her to apologize. But while she appeared hesitant to make amends, those commenting on the viral post appeared to be firmly in favor of her doing exactly that. "You owe him a huge apology," Smuff23 wrote. "You're being extremely paranoid that somebody is going to see a picture of your child."

They added: "He loves and adores your son which is exactly what you should want from a man who is going to live in your house and be a crucial part of his life as he grows."

Hiagha was baffled by the woman's logic. "Do you put a paper bag over your son's face whenever they are out in public?" they asked. "I get not wanting to post the picture on social media, to limit the wide exposure of your son's picture to people you don't know. But a phone background is limited exposure."

Tulipbunnys agreed, accusing the woman of "overreacting" to what was a harmless situation. "Having his picture as his phone lockscreen is a HUGE difference from posting his pictures on social media," they said. "Even if a stranger saw a flash of his lockscreen on the street... so what? It's not like people can screenshot with their eyeballs."

Grandgrimes, meanwhile, offered a more blunt assessment of the situation, writing: "This is gonna sound mean but no one cares about some random child on a screen saver. Not one person."

Elsewhere, Freeze_Burn_Repeat felt "it most likely has nothing to do with the child's photo." They said: "It's about control. It seems she wants to be the nucleus of the family, and her husband bonding with her son and taking initiative will derail that plan."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment.

Though her actions appear extreme, they do come against a backdrop of some concern over the welfare of children in the digital landscape.

According to a study conducted by Parent Zone, an expert consultancy in digital family life, parents share almost 1,500 images of their child online before they even reach their 5th birthday.

This can create myriad issues if the images are shared to social media with Jellies, a website dedicated to providing safe, curated videos for kids to watch, notes "Photos and videos of children shared by their parents on social media sometimes turn up on disturbing websites and forums."

They point to the example of a Nashville mother who found a picture of her daughter, which she had shared online, on a page belonging to a man in China where it was featured alongside other photos of young girls.

The incident follows on from an unusual viral story in which a wife reprimanded her husband for trying to make their son eat more eggs at breakfast.

In another widely shared post, a husband was praised for being honest with his wife by telling her he would likely remarry if she died.