From Cute To Cringe – Unpacking The Complex World Of Sharenting

What is Sharenting?

According to the Mashable article, How ‘sharenting’ boundaries on social media protect kids’ privacy and trust, by parenting expert and author, Devorah Heitner, it’s when parents share “sensitive” content about their children online.

And, who is not guilty of this?

What you may think is a cute moment in your kid’s evolution, they might (and do) see as unflattering, embarrassing or – even worse – cringe!
Now, this is more complex than parents who are simply living their best digital lives and sharing everything online… it has layers to it.
Let’s say you’re online asking for parenting advice? Something like: “My kid is really struggling with XYZ…”
Often, this crowdsourcing of advice can lead to the oversharing of sensitive information.
Information that might be used against them by bullies, or even insurance companies.

Scary… and real.

From the article:

“When I visit schools as a guest speaker on digital media and technology, I’ll ask students to step into a circle if their friends have ever posted something embarrassing about them on social media. About half the kids usually step in. But when asked if their parents have ever posted an embarrassing picture, overly revealing information, or a cringeworthy story about them online, 100 percent of them step forward nearly every time — and the implications of this newly pervasive childhood experience go beyond a blush of discomfort.”

It becomes all too real as these kids get older.

There are many instances when bullies will dig up posts of classmates’ family members content to tease their peers.
And it gets more complex if you start thinking about identity theft, deepfakes, using it for non-authorized generative AI output, and beyond.

There are ways to fix this.

Take a listen in to get a better grasp on this now, before it’s too late.
And always remember: When parents tone down the sharenting, they’re also teaching their kids a ton about respect for privacy, consent, and boundaries.

What is Tech Tuesday?

Every Tuesday – for just a few minutes – I join Heather Backman (my old buddy from her days on CHOM FM and Jack 103) on the air at 95.9 Star FM to give a quick blast about the current state of technology, media and Internet culture.
We call it Tech Tuesday (and we do it in just a few minutes).

Once the segment goes live on 95.9 Star FM, I will post it here for you to listen in, learn, share and engage.

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement  and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out