Go ahead, judge me—I would too. It wasn’t until I noticed strangers recognizing my children in public that I truly understood the extent of my oversharing. According to a University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll, I’m not the only one. The trend of “sharenting” is rampant, with over half of moms and a third of dads admitting to posting about their child’s health and parenting experiences on social media.
But where’s the line between sharing and oversharing? For instance, was posting a photo of my son struggling with potty training crossing the line? Let’s not get into that.
“By the time kids are old enough to jump on social media, many already have a digital footprint created by their parents,” explains Lisa Hargrove, M.P.H., associate director of the C.S. Mott poll and research scientist in the U-M Department of Pediatrics. “However, the boundary between sharing and oversharing can easily become blurry. Parents might share details that their kids find embarrassing or too personal later on, and once it’s online, it’s hard to erase. The child has little control over where that information ends up or who views it.”
But will they really? In an effort to reclaim their online identities, our children are opting out of the oversharing extravaganza we’ve crafted for them. Instead of engaging with us on Facebook—”That’s for old folks to post cringey pics,” my 12-year-old quips with a dramatic eye roll—more than 11 million teens have ditched the platform since 2011 (#byefelicia!). Even Instagram is becoming a relic, thanks to a growing parental presence and the “pics or it didn’t happen” mentality.
So where are they heading? To platforms where we aren’t, such as SnapChat, Oovoo, Whisper, and Secret. These platforms allow them to curate their online personas and share content that’s more ephemeral. Sneaky, right? You have to admit it’s kind of genius—our kids are effectively rendering our oversharing obsolete by not even participating.
Time to start working on those belfies!
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In summary, while many parents indulge in the trend of oversharing their children’s lives online, it’s essential to consider the long-term implications for their kids’ digital footprint. As our children carve out their own online identities, we must reflect on our sharing habits.
Keyphrase: oversharing kids
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