My social media feeds are filled with pictures and videos from friends and strangers of their kids. I see proud parents posting milestones of their child as they grow from month to month. I see photos of fun outfits for toddlers that make them look like the cool kid at school. And I see countless videos of children speaking gibberish, hugging dogs and napping in adorable positions. You know, kid stuff.
There's a part of me that wants to participate, to show the world the cute things my child does or says. However, a photo, video or any kind of status update posted publicly online is no longer within my control. Almost every US citizen uses the internet, according to the Pew Research Center, so if I post that material publicly, I might as well be mailing it to everyone in the US. I don't trust many people to begin with, so there's no way I'd trust the millions of people in the US, let alone the billions of people in the world, with images and information about my child.
While my wife and I have time to figure out some details about raising our kid, we've already decided we don't want to post publicly about our child online until they're old enough to understand what is being posted and consent to it. And if we do post about them, the post won't include their face and it will have as little personal information as possible.
I spoke to a handful of experts to better understand the phenomenon of parents posting pics and videos of their kids online, the dangers that can arise from this practice, and what you can do instead.
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What is sharenting?
Getty Images/Oscar Wong
Parents posting about their children online is called "sharenting," a portmanteau of the words "sharing" and "parenting." According to a 2024 study published in the Italian Journal of Pediatrics, about 75% of parents posted content related to their child or children online.
Examples of sharenting include sharing a birth announcement, posting your child's report card or posting a photo of your child on the first day of school.
While sharenting can come from a place of joy and love, it can have negative consequences for both children and parents alike.
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