The term "sharenting" refers to the practice of parents extensively sharing information, photos, and stories about their children on social media. While the urge to share pride in one's children is not new—parents have always shown off photo albums to friends and family—the digital context introduces new ethical, privacy, and safety concerns.
The Child's Right to Image Control
Many children and teenagers feel deeply embarrassed when their parents post things about them online. As children grow up, they want to have control over their own image and identity. This is why cases of children, even those of celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter, have publicly expressed discomfort or complained about their parents posting personal content. The issue has become so significant that in France, children now have the legal right to sue their parents for sharing too much information about them online.
For today's generation, an online identity is not seen as separate from their real-life identity but as an extension of who they are. Their social media profiles are "identity projects" used to express themselves. When parents post without permission, it can be personally upsetting and can impact the child's future, such as when they apply for a job. Therefore, a core element of sharenting is the necessary element of trust and collaboration between parent and child regarding what is shared publicly.
The Permanent Digital Footprint and Future Risks
What distinguishes digital sharenting is the creation of an extensive and lengthy digital stream of photos, comments, and stories that will remain online forever. Even if the child is a baby, their digital footprint is being created from day one.
This permanence introduces several future risks:
Unforeseen Use: Any image posted now will be on the internet indefinitely, and parents have no control over how these images might be used in the future, particularly with the rise of technology like deepfake software.
Facial Recognition: Posting facial images online helps to create databases for face recognition software, the uses of which are currently unknown.
Child Safety: Tragically, images and videos can be scanned by pedophile groups to extract single shots that expose parts of a child's body. This horrifying possibility demands extreme caution from parents.
Responsible Sharenting as Education
Dealing with the complexities of sharenting often comes down to education and changing social norms. Some parents have adopted strategies like taking pictures of their children when they are not facing the camera to avoid posting facial images.
Ultimately, if sharenting is done in a responsible way—one that focuses on allowing families to look back on nice moments and developmental milestones—it can have positive outcomes. Crucially, as children get older, responsible sharenting should evolve into a conversation with the kids about what they want to have online and how they wish to portray themselves. This collaborative approach is a vital step toward helping children keep themselves safe as they become digitally enabled adults.
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