D.C.-area doctors are sounding the alarm about the potential harmful effects of a trend called “sharenting,” where parents or caregivers post excessively about their children on social media.
You’re likely familiar with the trend if you’ve scrolled through any social media platform geared toward content creators lately — like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
Dr. Asha Patton Smith — a child, adolescent and adult psychologist with the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group of Kaiser Permanente — told WTOP the trend can take many forms. Nowadays, she says the instant nature of social media makes it so that oversharing about your children can almost become second nature.
In some cases, parents in 2024 are even creating their own accounts to showcase family activities which highlight their kids, or even running accounts that don’t feature themselves at all — only their children.
“Sharenting was on the rise before the pandemic,” Smith explained. “Then when COVID hit, it exploded.”
Studies now show 61% of parents post about their kids on various social platforms. Smith says new research is also exposing some bad side effects of this practice, like cyberbullying, privacy invasion and even future reputational damage.
“It does seem sometimes — like the more outlandish the post, the more views, or the more popularity the post gets,” she reflected, noting that, especially as kids grow and mature, their feelings about this type of posting, and seeing themselves, can change.
“Sometimes, this type of content can resurface later in life when the child is no longer a child,” Smith said. “The feeling of embarrassment or anxiety, especially in these kids that are a bit older, like later elementary school or middle school, can become more prevalent.”
Often times, she told WTOP, the type of relationship a trend like “sharenting” creates between a child and social media can make their mental health collateral, even if the intention was never to harm.
“I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is often done with good intentions,” Smith said of the “sharenting” trend. “The goal is not to embarrass or shame your kid.”
But she also warns: “Kids can grow up to feel pressure to seek validation from others, because they’re wondering how many likes are on their post. Children in general, but especially our teenage girls, are more susceptible to that self-esteem challenge with consistent use of social media.”
Smith told WTOP that in an age where societal beauty standards are progressively becoming more unrealistic, and cyberbullying is a huge issue, keeping your child’s life private could be more beneficial to everyone in the long run.
She says the onus of responsibility is on parents to police themselves when it comes to sharing their kids on social media.
“Parents just need ask themselves before they post: if what they’re posting respects their child’s privacy, and consider how the child may feel if they’re viewing this content in the future,” she said.
Smith emphasized that this doesn’t mean their recommendation is to not post your children at all.
“It depends on what’s posted and how much information was put out there,” she clarified.
A more accurate recommendation, she says, is for parents to be more discerning to reduce risks. Some of the things she and her team recommend for posting your children on social media are:
- Using private accounts
- Limiting info sharing about home or school locations, or any other personal info
- Avoiding posting sensitive or embarrassing images that can be used out of context
- Potentially using stickers or emoji — or even just a blur effect — to cover the child’s face if you’re posting them
Smith says we used to have home videos for those types of moments. But now, everything is out in the open, in a way it never has been in human history.
She says research is limited so far, but that they expect to learn even more from our youngest 18- year-old-adults and beyond, whose parents were among the first to participate in the sharenting trend before it became more widespread.
“I think we’re going to learn a lot more about the effects, psychologically, of this trend in the coming years,” Smith said. She says, much like we’ll have to wait years until we can fully evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our kids, the same can be said for sharenting.
For now, she says parents should be discerning.
“If there’s even a question or hesitation where you think it could be an issue for your child to see something like what you’re about on the internet in 10 — or 20 — years, don’t post it,” she said. “I think it’s too early to evaluate the full impact of potential damage, but it’s just something to keep in mind.”
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