New research has revealed that nearly three quarters (71%) of people think parents post too much information about their children on social media. The study by the Baby to Toddler Show, has also found that nearly half (45%) believe that parents are just “showing off”.
It’s not a surprise that some people find us parents annoying on Facebook. Research by Nominet found that the average parent in the UK with a social media account will have posted a whopping 1,498 photos of their child online by their fifth birthday! Similarly, the term ‘sharenting’ – the habitual use of social media to share news and images of one’s children, has recently been added to the Collins English Dictionary, proving this could be more than a yearly trend.
However, parents who post disagree they do too much and say the most common reason (82%) for sharing is to connect with friends and family members they don’t see often, followed by nearly half (49%) saying they want to record their child’s key milestones and memories. But what about how the children feel? Over a third (37%) of parents haven’t considered how their kids will feel when they’re older, knowing that photos of them growing up are all over the internet. Of those that had considered their children’s feelings, over a third (36%) believed they would grow up and treasure the memories and just 7 per cent felt their children would be embarrassed.
Often people worry about young children publishing too much personal information online and not being aware of the risks involved, but this research also puts parents into the spotlight. Over a third (35%) of parents said they were aware of the risks of the internet but continued to post pictures and information purely because everyone else does. Reassuringly over two thirds (70%) of parents knew exactly what privacy settings they had in place on social media and carefully monitored who could see what they were posting.