There is a word called “sharenting” which is gaining prominence on the social media. Although, this word won’t be found in the dictionaries, but the word can be spotted frequently on the social media. This word refers to the tendencies of parents to overshare pictures and information about their kids on the social media.
Experts are of the view that parents should take all the care in sharing pictures and information about their kids. They say that parents should not overdo it. Parents should leave behind the temptation of getting likes on their posts.
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There is one lady Rachel Stephens who is having two and a half years old twins. The babies were born at 25-weeks and they had to face some serious medical complications at the birth. She and her husband made a decision not to share pictures and information about the babies on the Facebook.
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The couple used a private Facebook group to share the pictures and information to the long-distant family members. Such kind of privacy measure is generally avoided by many people. “It’s a closed group, so we have to invite the members,” Rachel Stephens said. “It actually can’t even be searched for on Facebook.”
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As per the study of the University of Florida, almost 92 percent of the kids who are below the age of two years already have a digital footprint. “The question becomes one of, you know, there’s an inherent conflict between parents who have a right to publish and children who have a right to privacy,” Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark told.
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Dr. Clark works at the University of Denver’s Media, Film and Journalism Studies department. She has been involved in studying and writing literature on “sharenting.” Clark said maintaining the privacy of child can play very important role in kids’ development and actions.
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She says that sharing too many pictures and information on the social media may cause issues like identity theft, anxiety, stalking and bullying. Dr. Clark said, “I think where it becomes problematic is when parents make decisions that are funny to them but turn out to be embarrassing for young people.”
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It is also said that parents sometimes overdo the acts of sharing pictures and information on social media. They actually don’t realize what they are doing and in the process tend to overdo it. The study also indicates that name of the children was mentioned in 45 percent of the Facebook posts with pictures.
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The study also said that more than six percent of the posts mentioned the kids’ birthdays. But, there are also parents who like to keep the children’s posts limited and they are also of the view that posts should not be shared on the social media platforms.
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“I see parents sharing everything from potty-training pictures,” Stephens said. “We don’t really share naked baby photos, but some parents will do that.” The trend of “sharenting” has grown leaps and bounds with the arrival of millennials. Problem with millennials is that they grew up with the internet and they are sharing more pictures of their children on the Facebook.
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“What’s happening now is that those young people who were pictured, and whose information was shared, are now growing into the age where they’re conscious of it,” Dr. Clark said, “And we’re realizing they have a digital footprint that goes back a long way.” While looking to find solutions for this problem, Dr. Clark said that telling parents to simply refrain from sharing information on social media won’t be enough and it will be extreme and unrealistic.
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Instead, she shared, “If you’re a parent, think about when you were 13-years-old, and now think about what you wish your parents had shared or not shared online about you.” Both Stephen and Clark don’t think that the sharenting trend may not end anytime soon. “But that’s also a reason why we need to think about how we want our children to grow in this environment. And how they need to be able to know they have rights that they can protect too,” Clark added.
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At the same time, Clark doesn’t feel that digital age is detrimental. “There’s a real upside to being able to share information and to share love through social media with our extended families,” she added. “I am an oversharer, but with people who want to be shared with,” Stephens said.
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