Sharenting

One of the strangest phenomenon's of social media, particularly Face book, is that of parents posting things, pictures, comments about their children on line for anyone to see.  There's a name for it.  It's called "sharenting." A University of Michigan Children's Hospital nation poll on children's health just did a study and released it the other day. It said that more than half of mothers and one third of fathers discuss their child's health and their parenting on social media.  They blabber anything about little Johnny or baby Marie. But why? And why on sites that are open to anyone who wants to view?  Is it not just a less than subtle way of announcing, "See how great a parent I am. My little one is so special?"

Well, that's my theory, that their posts are not so much about their kids as they are about the posting parents themselves. Why else would parents expose their child to a forum that anyone can see? It's sort of like keeping bait in the ocean, instead of a bait box. Eventually, the innocuous postings can lure predators, and that's not good parenting.  But nearly three quarters of parents say social media makes them feel "less alone", and that's why they do it. Alienation in today's high tech disconnecting social media is real.  But are those parents going too far when it comes to what they share about our kids?  Shouldn't they find a better outlet for handling their feelings of alienation.

Three fourths of parents polled said “oversharenting” by another parent, including parents who shared embarrassing stories, gave information that could identify a child's location, or posted photos that can be seen as inappropriate (those naked baby pictures, for instance). Parents also said that they were shocked to learn that strangers were “stealing” their kids’ online photos and re sharing them as if the children were their own. In other cases, children's photos have become the target of cruel jokes and cyber bullying. Among the most cruel cases of parent posting addiction in recent years was that of a Face book group that made fun of “ugly” babies.  Parents should remember their are plenty of jerks out there who will use their children as a target.

The biggest problem with the "look how cute and great my kid is" postings is that many parents don't pay attention to the privacy codes on Face book and other social media sites, so they don't understand who can and cannot see what they're posting. Is this posting frenzy for them, or is this for their children?  Where are the child's rights, and should that much of a child's life be made public by mom or dad when they don't have any choice in the matter? I think if those posting parents realized all the repercussions that could come from it, they might want to take a more discrete stand about how often and what they post about their little darlings.

Things that are posted on the internet are there permanently. Something posted today could eventually, depending on the child's age,  prove embarrassing or harmful to the child. Think about it. By the time some children are old enough to use social media themselves many already have a digital identity created for them by their parents. Yuk! That's not cute for either parent or child.  It might be better for those posting parents to live, not through their children, but more through and for themselves.