Why Kids Are Confronting Their Parents About 'Sharenting' | NYT Opinion

While we often hear parents caution their children about safety, this time the tables are turned. In the video op-ed above, three children confront their mothers about “sharenting.” They are members of the first generation whose entire life could be documented on social media. It’s a generation that’s digitally savvy and concerned about what parents post online.

The U.S. law meant to protect kids online (COPPA) “places parents in control over what information is collected from their young children online.” But innocent posts from parents can carry unintended consequences. Studies estimate that by 2030, “sharenting” will play a role in two-thirds of identity fraud cases facing the young generation. Parents also risk unwittingly exposing their children to data broker profiling, hacking, facial recognition tracking, pedophilia and other threats to privacy and security.

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[Kirsten_is_cursed]

Parents blaming their kids for having social media addictions. Meanwhile...

[chelsealivingston]

When a child has to teach parents about consent we have issues.

[kriscrossender]

I grew up with my mom posting pictures of me and my brother without permission. We started telling her to stop when we were 12, our wishes were never respected. Instead, she would lie to us, and we had to stop allowing her to take pictures of us altogether. She still takes pictures of us behind our back. It's disgusting how parents treat their kids like they aren't human beings with their own wants and boundaries.

[affentat]

When I was 12, I asked my mom if I could share a picture of my face online, and she was against it because she didn't know much about the internet and was afraid of the dangers. Kinda weird to see that nowadays it's more the other way round.

[rockmonstr]

The Indian mom is like a parody of Indian moms. Saying this as an Indian child.

[findlay]

this isn’t an argument about oversharing: it’s an argument about respecting people’s boundries and respecting your children as PEOPLE.

[mjojo]

I posted pictures of my daughter until I heard my friends talking about getting permission from their kids to post. I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me before! I asked my 5 year old that day and she said she didn’t want me to post pictures. The emotional pull to post and get “likes” was hard to give up but I’m glad I did. She needs to know I respect her and will protect her, not exploit her.

[RememberYourSafeword]

My mother posted a picture of me grieving over my now-dead dog. In the photo, I was crying because it was the day we had to put her down. She did NOT ask for my consent at all, and I did NOT look great in the picture, and I honestly did not want such an emotional picture online.
Also: one time on ANOTHER picture she posted of me, one of her friends said “Can’t wait till they’re on the pole” (the picture was of me and my younger sister, who is eight.) She played it off as a joke, but it was sickening

[TheINFP_Diary]

“If it’s not on insta, it didn’t even happen”. That’s honestly sickening

[TheGreekxicans]

The Indian daughter is one of the most mature teenagers I’ve ever seen, and her mom is one of the MOST immature adults I’ve ever seen.

[selmore]

“It’s because of how aware I am of the implications of the digital footprint…” Good for her! This girl is going places in life and has more sense than the majority of adults, apparently 🙄

[purplealchemistofficial]

Celebrities need to be held accountable for this too. I hate it when I see a celebrity parent talking about something embarrassing their kid did on a talk show.

[beckjeezy]

“You didn’t ask” what else needs to be said?

[sourgreendolly]

“If it’s not on insta, it didn’t even happen”
How immature can a grown adult be?

[miawallace]

I called this stuff 10 years ago when I saw a bunch of new parents around my same age doing this to their kids. I said “Just wait until these kids are old enough to realize they are essentially being exploited for likes. The lawsuits are going to be astronomical.” It’s finally happening. Hopefully society will figure out a nice compromise when it comes to over sharing their defenseless children.

[kaylynn]

Parents: “ugh kids these days are so obsessed with social media”
Also parents: “if I can’t document it on Instagram at may as well have not happened”

[ls-rkhw]

thank god my mom doesnt understand how to even use a computer

[dziugasdj]

"If it's not on insta - it didn't happen" yikes.

[sarahjames]

Telling my mother in law that letting our kids decide and have control about how many and what pictures of them end up online literally ended our relationship with her. She hasn't spoken to us in 6+ years because "if it's not of FB did it even happen? What's the point of spending time with family if you can't share?"

[gamstabri]

I can so relate to this. My dad left when I was little. He comes back now and posts all of my recent achievements and gets praise for being a “good dad”.