Sharenting: How to Protect Children’s Data Privacy in the Age of Social Media

  • 18/04/2020
  • Category: Commentaries
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‘The Digital Generation’

A short documentary film entitled “If you don’t sharenting are you even parenting” showed us a protest from kids and teens aged 7-18 towards their parents’ habit of posting their whole childhood online. They are known as the first generation digital-savvy who protest on their parents, who are mostly the new generation of adults to join social media. The parents’ activity is known as sharenting, which, according to the Collin Dictionary, is “the habitual use of social media to share news, images, and other private data of one’s children.” Sharenting happens any time an adult is in charge of a child’s well-being, not only by parents but also family and teachers that transmits private details about a child via digital channels[1]

Sharenting starts as early as from the sonogram picture to mom’s pregnant life and more to come when the child is born. During the short length of time, numbers of children’s digital traces such as gender, place of birth, time of birth, mother’s last name, photograph, and other digital information are sorted in social media, shared by parents and relatives.

The fact is, on average, by the age of 5, the kid has 1,500 photos of them online[2]. A study by internet security firm AVG estimates that over 92 percent of American children have a social media presence by the age of 2[3]. This article will discuss how the simple act of parents by sharing their children’s photos and activity has put them in danger, and lastly, how parents as the gatekeeper could prevent it?

The perils of sharenting

In general, the harms of sharenting can be categorized into two types, the criminal and psychological effects for both parents and children. According to UK Children’s commissioner data in 2018, parents have posted 1300 photos and videos of their children on social media by the age of 13. When parents reveal too much information, especially identifying information like the personal data, this may lead to digital kidnapping[4]when users of social media steal the picture or video and repost them as their own kids’ picture. Besides, too much information also puts the children at risk of identity fraud[5]. The information that easily gathers by fraudsters harming the children’s future financial security and making them a future fraud target. The digital footprint on social media also may be collected and sold for marketing purposes as children data nowadays also commonly found on the dark web[6]. Estimate that by 2030, “sharenting” will play a role in two-thirds of identity fraud cases facing the young generation[7].

Second, the psychological effect. Most children are concerned about their online presence when they get access to social media. Many parents did not realize that the innocent cute bathing child picture on social media that was posted without the child’s privacy consent was a privacy violation and may lead to cyberbullying. Besides, sharenting also will ruin a child’s future professional reputation and harm their prospects.

Moreover, the act of sharenting may also build a virtual self-representation that leads to the narcissistic self of the children from a young age. The perils of putting both “proud” parents and “innocent” children in the “ virtual showcase” may lead to emotional harm[8]. The implication of childhood as a spectacle[9]in a toxic environment to the children’s psychology is still speculated. It needs further research,  but most likely, the children are vulnerable as the adult in receiving peer pressure, cyberbullying, and body insecurity since early childhood[10].

Can parents still have the joy of sharenting? The answer is Yes, but keep in mind:[11][12]

  1. Be mindful when sharing children photos or video on social media, set the social media private if necessary, or create a small group of family or friends on messaging app
  2. Do not reveal personal identification, such as an address, school, and other personal information, turn off location tagging 
  3. Do not post photos that will potentially embarrass your child in the future.
  4. If the child has enough awareness and is mature enough, always ask their permission before posting anything on social media.  

Author: Yuliana Khong
Editor: Amelinda Pandu Kusumaningtyas 


Read more article written by Yuliana Khong 
 

[1]Plunkett, Leah A. (2019). Sharenthood: Why we should think before we talk about our kids online. The MIT Press: England

[2]The conversation. (2017). More than 80% of children have an online presence by the age of two. Futurism.com (online) Accessed on March 10th2020. Available at https://futurism.com/more-than-80-of-children-have-an-online-presence-by-the-age-of-two

[3]Garg, Zoya, et al. (2019). If you didn’t ‘Sharent,’ did you even parent? NYTIMES. (online). Accessed on: March 3rd2020

Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/07/opinion/parents-social-media.html

[4]Whigham, Nick. 2015. Digital Kidnapping will make you think twice about what you post to social media. news.com.au. (online) Accessed on: March 13th 2020. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/digital-kidnapping-will-make-you-think-twice-about-what-you-post-to-social-media/news-story/

[5]Coughlan, Sean. (2018). ‘Sharenting’ puts young at risk of online fraud. BBC News. (online).Accessed on: March 4th2020. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-44153754.

[6]Wilson, Emily. (2019). The worrying trend of children’s data being sold on the dark web. (online) Accessed on: March 4th2020. Available at: https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2019/02/23/children-data-sold-the-dark-web/. [7]Coughlan, Sean. (2018). ‘Sharenting’ puts young at risk of online fraud. BBC News. (online) Accessed on: March 4th2020. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-44153754.

[8]Cino, Davine. (2017). The “Puer Optionis:” Contemporary childhood adultization, spectacularization, and sexualization. Journal of theories and research in education.

[9]Katz, Cindy. (2008). Childhood as Spectacle: Relays of Anxiety and the Reconfiguration of the Child. Journal of cultural geographies. 

[10]Cino, Davine. (2017). The “Puer Optionis:” Contemporary childhood adultization, spectacularization, and sexualization. Journal of theories and research in education.

[11]Bunting, Carolyn. (2017). A guide to safe sharenting. Huffingtonpost.co.uk. (online). Accessed on: March 13th 2020. Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/carolyn-bunting-internet-matters/a-guide-to-safe-sharenting

[12]Brown, Julie. (2019). Sharenting’: How to safeguard your kids’ personal information on social media. NBCNews.com. (online). Accessed on: March 13th 2020. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/sharenting-how-safeguard-your-kids-personal-information-social-media-ncna1058006